Of Children, Men, and Monsters
by Simply Seth
Summary: Follow the tales of Marza, a lass too wanting of something different in her life for her own good, and her to-be companions as they journey the lands, doing all manner of things along the way! But what of the enigmatic, shadowy being that has appeared to take an interest in her, as well as his intents...?
1. Prologue: Potential Problems

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Why, hello, readers! I thank you for your generosity in sparing your time to read this story, and strive to make up that lost time with amusement and entertainment!

… Formal and somewhat cliché introductory words aside, however, I've been having the concept of this story in my head for a long, _long_ time. As in, three to four _years_ kind of long.

So, as someone who has already had a bit of tentative practice in the fields of fan fiction writing, I figured, ' _Why not let the creative thoughts finally flow_?'

So, here I am, first chapter up and out for you fellow Pokémon fans to read.

As for the update schedule, it will likely change and fluctuate a bit as it goes on. The next chapter will probably be up in just a couple of days, I think, but a month from now, it just might be once a week. Don't hold me to that thought, by the way!

So, without further ado (besides the titles and that pesky disclaimer), I present to you the first chapter of _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Prologue: Potential Problems

Cue music – _Xenoblade Chronicles_ soundtrack – _Tension_

* * *

T'was very silent in the realm that Arceus inhabited. Nothing but the quiet turbulence of the rainbow-colored energies could be heard in its realm as it rested, patiently awaiting the time at which he could finally escape.

' _The irony of being trapped in my own home has long since worn thin_ ,' it thought, bored to an excruciating degree. It was incapable of leaving the dimension it was currently bound in, due to those overly paranoid acts of those humans from…

' _Oh, my_ … _How long has it been since I was first imprisoned_? _Troubling_ , _especially if even_ I _have been here so long as to lose track of time_ …'

It hummed a bit, thinking pensively, idly manipulating the prismatic energies around itself as it did so. Quite suddenly, however, a rip in time opened, allowing a primarily blue quadrupedal being through.

"Milord Arceus. I bring dire news. I have had another vision." Arceus once again hummed, interested. Its second child (if only a few milliseconds behind her twin, Palkia) always was the responsible one of its first set of creations.

" _What might this one depict_ , _Dialga_?" it asked of her, voice echoing slightly.

"A multitude of civilizations – human _and_ Pokémon – have been laid to waste. They lie in ruin, burning and broken. I saw a man in black with a large red "R" embalmed on his clothes causing all of this destruction."

" _And what manner of weapon_ – _or_ , _dare I say it_ , _Pokémon_ – _had he used to cause this_?"

The Deity of Time took a slight breath, as if to calm herself. "That is what a find most disturbing… He used but a _single Pokémon_ \- I cannot tell which, as you know that these visions can be vague at times - to cause this monstrosity."

Arcues let out a hum for the third time. " _Could you discern anything notable of this Pokémon_ ' _s features_?"

Dialga sighed. She hated not being fully capable of pleasing her creator. "From what little I could ascertain, it was fairly large; roughly the size of a Pokémon such as Dragonite or Garchomp. It had spines running along its head and back, and possessed a fairly large tail. The eyes – _both sets of them_ \- were a glaring red. I almost could swear that they were _glowing_. It was practically as if it had a second face on its front side, as well…"

" _And when do you think that this shall happen_?"

"I am not entirely certain… The larger cities of the humans appeared ever so slightly larger than they do now, so I suppose that all that I can predict is that it shall occur in but a few short years."

Arceus thought for a few moments. This Pokémon escaped his thoughts, as if his mind was intentionally keeping the answer just out of reach. Usually, all that it took were a few features such as the ones that his child had listed to figure out, however vague they were.

" _Did a Pokémon that underwent Mega Evolution accompany this man_? _They were the sole things that I have not personally created_. _I know that they exist_ , _as well as the Mega Stones and Key Stones_. _What specific Pokémon the former were for_ , _however_ , _I left up to whatever fates I am not already in charge of_. _I must leave_ something _as an unknown_ , _you see_."

It chuckled softly.

" _I find myself regretting that specific flight of whimsy now_ ," the Alpha Pokémon sighed, while the Temporal Pokémon merely raised a brow at her father-mother's strange tendencies.

" _Well_ , _no matter_. _We have found ways to avert these major catastrophes_ , _and we shall do so again_. How, _though_ … _That is the question_."

The creator of the Pokémon World closed his eyes, thinking deeply.

" _Dialga_. _Might I request that you bring your sibling over to this dimension_? _We shall be needing his aid_ , _I believe_."

Dialga pouted. She hated her brother almost as much as not pleasing her master. "Are you _entirely certain_ that we will be needing Palkia's help?"

" _Now_ , _now_ , _my child_. _I know that you don't exactly harbor the best of feelings for your counterpart_ , _but you must trust my word on this one_."

Dialga exhaled, frustrated. "Fine, fine. Can't promise that we won't fight on the way back, however."

" _Do be sure that it doesn't stretch beyond your home dimensions like it did_ last time, _then_." There was an edge to its voice this time. A very slight edge, but it was more than sufficient in getting its point across.

Dialga gulped. Her father-mother had dealt a harsh penance for their previous spate, despite its powers generally being restricted at the moment, and she _definitely_ did _not_ want that happening again. She hastily re-opened the portal and leapt through, and it promptly closed not a second afterwards. If there was a solid surface beneath it, Arceus would likely be tapping a hoof-like appendage to it as it waited.

It took nearly an hour (as far as the god-like Pokémon had counted, at least), but Dialga eventually returned, sibling in tow.

"Arceus," spoke the Space Pokémon, "what might you have brought me here for?"

He pointedly ignored bringing up the fact that it was Dialga who had physically brought him here, and Arceus sighed in aggravation at each siblings' pragmatism towards the other. He brushed the issue aside for the moment, saying: " _Dialga has received another vision_. _Many a place had been burned to the ground in the future_ , _with a man and a sole_ , _unknown Pokémon causing this series of catastrophes_. _What I intend to do_ \- _as is always_ \- _is to stop the problem before it begins_. Also _as always_ , _I shall be needing the aid of both of you_." They nodded, already familiar with these scenarios.

"What do you propose that we do, then?" Dialga inquired, genuinely curious.

The Spatial Pokémon spoke up: "Perhaps the Pokémon of this human has not yet been born. Mayhaps we could steal it away from them before this man has the chance to raise it? All children are born innocent, after all…"

Arceus, if it had the flexibility necessary to do so, would have tapped the point of a front appendage to its chin.

" _That_ … _is decidedly not a terrible idea_. _Brilliant thinking on your part_ , _Palkia_." He raised his head haughtily, looking pointedly at his sibling. She growled at him in response, and took an aggressive step toward him. The Alpha Pokémon sighed yet again.

"Children. _Now is not the time for your little rivalry_. _You can settle this dispute later if you will it to be_ ; _however, we've significantly more important objectives to accomplish at the moment_. Potentially saving the world, _for one_." Dialga backed off, with Palkia doing the same a moment after. "Good. _Now_ , _the first thing that we must do is either locate where the egg of this Pokémon is_ , _where it will hatch_ , _or where whatever Pokémon this egg will hatch into is at the moment_ …"


	2. Chapter One: Surprises, Big and Small

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Hello again, dearest readers! Great to (hypothetically) see you again!

… _Man_ , I need to come up with something to say besides phrases along the lines of "Good to see you again!" _Hmm_.

Ah, well. You need only know that the second chapter is here, and ready for your reading enjoyment!

Shout-outs to Anonymous1O1, and Openminded15, November Red Angel, and Ginger the Espeon for their Favorites! An additional shout-out to those last two for the Follows! Much appreciated!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children, Men, and Monsters_

Chapter One: Surprises, Big and Small

* * *

Another painfully average day in school had, done with. Or, at least, in the young girl's eyes.

' _Most days are like that_ , _really_. _It_ ' _s really just a matter of how_ average _they are_ _which determines their amount of pain_.'

She sighed in melancholy boredom, with nothing but a book in her hands as she rode the bus back home.

' _I_ ' _ve already finished reading this thing_. _The story was good and all_ , _but there_ ' _s nothing to really think on in terms of theme or morals_ …'

A second sigh.

' _Almost surprised that the boys in the back aren't rough_ - _housing like usual_ …'

A backpack was promptly sent flying, landing right in the pre-teen's lap.

' _Aaaand there we go_.'

One of the boys ran up the narrow center hall of the vehicle (despite the driver's shouting at him not to) and plucked it off its position on her body, running back to his place with a mocking jeer.

"Good thing you never join us, grumpy, 'cause you are no fun _at all_!" he spoke as he went, but the girl hardly seemed to even pay attention or even _notice_ to his actions. He growled at bit, aggravated at her apparent difference, before finally sitting down next to his pals.

' _Good thing I_ ' _m good at acting_ , _and that I_ ' _m almost home_. _Hopefully enough_ , _these last six-ish hours of the day_ ' _ll be more interesting than usual_.'

She scoffed, herself.

' _I really need to stop kidding myself_. _The days have never ceased being boring ever since I matured a couple years back_ …'

Perhaps it's needless to say, but she _really_ ought to learn to be careful of what she wishes for.

Upon walking into the door of her house, she came face-to-chest with her father, who greeted her like she did nearly every day:

"Hello, Marza. Have a good day at school?"

"You ought to know the answer to that by this point, Dad," she responded dismissively, already taking her shoes off and going up the nearby flight of stairs.

"'Just fine", is it?" he asked again, a small smile present on his face. He didn't really mind his daughter's attitude. He was both used to it and hardly minded it; she took after her mother, after all. Not that he particularly minded that aspect of her, either. Speaking of which…

"Honey. Would you mind at least coming up with an alternate way to say that your day was fine? Such as, per say: "Oh, it was decent enough."?"

Marza glanced at her mother from the corner made from the intersection of the stairwell and the wall.

"I don't really see why I need to. It gets the point across, however short and dull the phrase may be."

"That may be so, but it has gotten rather stagnant. Isn't that so, Julius?"

"Must I get involved in this, Erise?" he whined over-exaggeratingly.

"Don't make me order you, dear," she retorted, a touch of humor present in her voice.

"Fine, fine," he responded without any real amount of seriousness. "Honey, would you mind at least saying something a bit different tomorrow? Even the difference made with a single word'll do."

The raven-haired girl huffed. "All right. It'll probably be a single word like you said, though." With that said, she finally finished her climb up the stairs, which had been extended from two seconds to five times that amount. ' _Not that either of those is a huge amount of time_ , _but time wasted is still time wasted_ ,' she thought grumpily.

Julius waited a few seconds, as to make certain that Marza was in her room, before saying to his wife: "Sometimes, I worry for that girl. I know that her Autism makes it difficult to make and maintain friendships, and, even though she seems fine with it for now, I know that this'll handicap her later in her life…" He sighed in a worried manner.

"Oh, don't you worry. I powered through my own disability, and look at what I've gotten as a result: a loving husband, and a fantastic daughter," assured Erise. "All that she needs is a push here and there, and she'll be just fine. Her Autism, as well as mine, is hardly the worst I've seen. Trust me when I say that, as a nurse, I've seen some significantly worse stuff." Her spouse smiled at her words.

"You're right. Let's just hope that we push her in the right direction, then, hmm?" He leaned in for a smooch, and his wife gladly complied. The couple giggled afterward, and they turned on the TV, putting their arms over each other's shoulders as they started up a movie.

Unfortunately for them, their daughter had, in fact, heard their dialogue. Autistic people do tend towards having a more sensitive sense of hearing than average, after all. "Well, _that_ was cheesy as all heck," she spoke, letting out an exhale as she flopped into her bed. "Almost made me want to choke. Ah, well. Maybe they're right. I don't think that I particularly need friends, though, especially when most of the people at school are so dissimilar to me." A few minutes passed of her merely sitting there on the bed, contemplating, until she began to get bored of that train of thought. Getting up, she walked over to the computer on the opposite side of the room.

Before she could sit herself down again, however, she noticed something that was certainly not there the previous time she had been in her room. "What's this…?" she mumbled, heading over to whatever was in the corner. A few seconds of examination revealed that it was apparently an egg of some sort. What kind of creature laid an egg that was nearly a foot tall with a green coloration and the occasional black spot escaped her, and justly so. "What in the…!?"

She initially thought that this was some sort of prank from the delinquents in her neighborhood, but picking it up revealed that it was actually quite warm, indicating that it was likely hosting some sort of creature, and that said creature was most definitely alive. "Unless someone put a heater of some sort in this thing, but I doubt that someone would make something so elaborate just for a prank…" Deciding that this was, indeed, not a prank, she fulfilled her original goal of sitting down on the chair of her desk and browsing the Internet. What she was looking for was changed from what she would have done otherwise, however; she was now looking for a list of the world's birds and reptiles, and from there, she would take a peek at the appearances of their respective eggs. It took nearly twenty minutes, but she eventually found the page she was looking for.

Another twenty minutes of browsing content revealed to her that the egg matched none of the entirety of the known world's species eggs. "So, I either have some sort of freakish mutant on my hands, or… well, I can't even _guess_ as to what else it could possibly be." She chuckled, if only for a moment. "Well, I suppose that you've alleviated some of the pain that is averageness, hmm?" She held it out in front of her face, examining it closely again, before having a bout of logic; if it was an egg, then, like any other egg, it probably needed warmth. She tugged it underneath the blankets of her bed, setting it near a corner to hide it from the potential view of her parents. She had no idea why, but they liked to occasionally pop in and check the room out. ' _They know I always keep this room clean_ , _so why is it that they insist on doing that_?'

After she deemed that she had both hidden it and covered it well enough, she got back up and sat back down on the desk's corresponding chair. The problem for her at the moment was that she had forgot what she was about to browse for - again, justly so - and a solid minute of attempting to remember later, she still could not remember what she was going to do. She sighed, instead electing to go on YouTube and watch a few videos.

An hour and a half later, and she was completely and thoroughly bored. Nothing she could think of would slake her thirst for something exciting, aside from that egg she had discovered. So, to alleviate this problem, she rested her bum down on the bed and thought about this enigmatic egg. ' _This thing is a complete and utter mystery_. _It shows up here_ , _in my room_ , e _ven though I_ ' _m hardly anything special_.' A brief, mental pause. ' _Well_ , _aside from my minor Autism_. _Plenty of other people have it_ _in some variation or another_ , _though_ …' She shook her head. ' _I_ ' _m getting off track_. _Where did this thing come from_ , _and_ , _more importantly_ , _what_ ' _ll it hatch into if whatever inside is truly alive_?' Just when she began to think of the possibilities, her father announced: "Time for dinner, hon'! It's your second favorite meal: steak, with thoroughly sauced-covered noodles!" She glanced at the concealed form of the egg for a second before heading downstairs. ' _Not like it_ ' _ll just spontaneously_ \- _and_ inconveniently - _decide to hatch the half_ - _hour that I_ ' _m gone_ …'

And indeed, it had not hatched whilst she was downstairs. She once again glanced at the egg under her covers before figuring that there was more than one way to give it warmth. Plucking it out of the cover of her blankets, she walked back to her computer, setting down on her lap like the backpack that those unruly boys had chucked onto her a few hours ago. Her ideas for video-watching now refreshed from her thirty minute break, she resumed her session of Internet-oriented entertainment.

Another chunk of time passed, and it was now nearly nine o' clock. Deciding that she was just about out of ideas again for entertainment again, she called it a day, switching the lights off and trading her current apparel in for a set of purple pajamas. She tugged the blankets over herself, and, figuring that it would be fine, held the mysterious egg close to her body. Marza felt tempted to bid the egg a good night, but then corrected that thought; eggs couldn't hear a thing, not until the creature inside hatched. Closing her eyes with an accompanying yawn, her last thoughts of the day were of what manner of creature this egg hosted, and when it would hatch…

Not an after her last, drowsy thoughts before unconsciousness took her, the egg wiggled.

A crack ran down it, and the being inside, a small, green thing with symmetrical black spots and a diamond-shaped patch of red on its front, was finally birthed into existence. Its horn, somewhat short at the moment, prodded at something soft.

It briefly wondered where it was and what was holding it, but it elected to not care at the moment, deciding that the feelings of warmth emanating from the being and the blankets covering it were simply… _wonderful_.

It, too, fell asleep a few moments later.


	3. Chapter Two: Children and Monsters

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Firstly, I must thank a guest for giving this story its first Review! And in response to that review: I _know_ , right!? That's the reason why I chose this Pokémon as the companion to the main character: Pokémon like Riolu/Lucario and the Legendaries (looking at you, you bunch of silly lil' Mary Stus and Mary Sues!) as main partners have been done to death and back, so I figured that I'd mix things up a little in combination with a different plot than average (relatively speaking).

Doesn't mean that I can't like stories that handle that concept well like ClicheStorm, however. That's a story I heartily recommend that you check out if you haven't already, by the way.

That aside, however, this is where the story begins to pick up a bit, with the true introduction between Marza and the not-so-mysterious Pokémon that hatched from the egg.

Shout-outs to Skyforged for the Favorite, as well as gettothedragon and joycewu333 for the Follows! You humble me with your mere attention!

Long-winded Author's Notes aside, however, do read and enjoy yourself, as is per usual!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men, and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Two: Children and Monsters

* * *

Marza woke up a tad earlier than usual the next morning with a quiet yawn, feeling about as dreary as one would expect in that circumstance. She came into a full state of consciousness over the course of several minutes, and when that process was finished, she attempted to get up and begin preparing to go to school. She was interrupted before this could begin, however, when she noticed a small form clutching itself to her pajamas. It was snoring quietly, eyes closed, looking… well, _cute_.

As in, "so absurdly cute that is can easily cause a "daww'" kind of cute.

Which, in fact, is precisely what Marza did once she got over her shock.

She picked it up with all of the cautiousness she could muster a moment after that, attempting to get a closer look at this thing's features. Nearly all of its body was a dull shade of green, like the egg that it apparently had hatched from, and it possessed two symmetrical black spots on the sides of its torso. A diamond-shaped red spot was on its front, and a horn protruded from its head. A triangular splotch of black ran downward from where the lines that concealed its apparent eyes were. Noticing the few small fragments of egg shell still stuck to its head, she brushed them off, and took a quick glance on her bed and the area just around it. Just as she had suspected, little green fragments were lying around the floor and sheets of her bed.

She mentally sighed, ' _Not everything can be sunshine and rainbows_ , _even_ if _this thing looks too cute to be real_.'

She set it down on the bed, just as careful of having it wake up as when she picked it up, and slowly rose from the bed. She picked up each individual piece of the now-broken egg one-by-one, taking the lightest of steps possible. Thankfully, the flooring of her room consisted solely of carpet, so the task of remaining as silent as possible was made significantly easier.

A minute later, and all of the fragments of egg were thrown into the small trash bin next to Marza's desk. Figuring that she couldn't just leave a new-born of an unknown species by itself (who knew what it could do _or_ what it was capable of), she sat down on the floor and resumed gazing at it. She had the time to spare, as, again, she had gotten up early; half an hour early, to be more precise.

A few minutes later, the thing woke up that same way Marza had: with a yawn. Its eyelids slowly opened, revealing to Marza its ruby-red irises, and it slowly propped itself upright, doing so sluggishly. When it finally did so, it looked upon the young woman, curiosity brimming in its childish eyes.

Marza felt _very_ tempted to "daww" again, but barely managed to refrain. She had already thought about what she was going to say ahead of time, so she asked of the creature:

"What's your name, little one?"

It smiled widely, and cried: "Larvitar!"

Marza raised a brow. Most - no, _all_ creatures that she knew of didn't let out sounds that could easily be mistaken for an English word, nor do they respond to inquiries with such evident emotion. She knew that this next thing likely wouldn't work, but asked of it: "Is that _your_ name, or the name of your kind?"

To her shock, the newly revealed Larvitar nodded. "You can understand me!?"

It nodded again.

Once she got over her mixed elation and excitement, she spoke, more to herself than the creature, "A strange one, aren't you?"

' _What kind of creature can understand a language the moment it_ ' _s born_ , _basics or no_ …?'

She shook her head, and then inquired, "So, it's the name of your species?"

A cheerful "Lar!"

' _And how does it_ know this stuff _when it hasn_ ' _t even been born half a day_?'

"What's your name, then?"

The Larvitar appeared uncertain, letting out a "Laaar…" portraying that same feeling.

"Do you even _have_ one?" asked the green-eyed pre-teen, beginning to feel a tad sorry for the thing.

It shook its head after a few moments.

"Hmm… Well, I can't just keep calling you Larvitar if that's your species name. What if there are more of you on the way? That'd just get confusing, and _fast_."

The young Larvitar looked confused, likely at her second sentence, though he didn't quite have the time (or the means, for that matter) to ask her what she meant. She put a hand to her chin, rubbing it pensively.

"I have an idea. What if _I_ gave you a name? Would you like that?"

It nodded, very much enthused at the thought. It just felt… inexplicably _right_ to the Larvitar that this girl name it. Marza once again hummed, deep in thought.

"Give me some time to think about this. Names _are_ important, after all."

She got up from the bed once again, glancing at the clock. She was still fifteen minutes ahead of her typical morning schedule, but she figured that she may as well shower, regardless. Just as she went to open the door, she remembered two vital things to ask.

"Oh, yeah. Are you a boy?"

A shake of the horned head.

"A girl, then?" A nod of affirmation.

"Okay. Can't go about giving you a masculine name even though you're a girl, eh?" She chuckled at her wise-crack, before saying, "Would you mind staying in here, by the way? I've got to take a shower, and, well… my parents probably won't react well to you."

The now-female Larvitar cocked its head, but nodded.

"Good. I'll be back here in about twenty minutes. Please be quiet while I'm gone, too."

She nodded her head as she closed the door, leaving the baby Larvitar to its own devices.

' _Maybe she_ ' _s an alien_?' Marza pondered as she scrubbed at her shoulder-long hair. ' _Seems to me like it_ ' _s the only possible explanation_. _What_ else _could she possible be_?'

She shook her head once again, sending little droplets of water flying in the shower. ' _Better think about that later_. _I_ ' _ve got to figure out a name for her_ , _which takes priority at the moment_ …' Even after she put her clothes on and did her hair up as per her usual style (which was hardly a style at all; it was how her hair naturally looked), she couldn't come up with any names that she found to be decent for a being such as the little Larvitar. Until…

"That's it! I've got one!" she exclaimed, quite loudly.

"You've got one _what_ , honey?" inquired Marza's father from behind the door, sounding genuinely curious.

Marza blushed with simultaneous embarrassment and indignation, responding to him when she opened up that bathroom door: "Umm… A good idea for an essay! Yeah, that!"

Julius gave her a look of reproach. "Well, I suppose that the yearly finals _are_ coming up… It never hurts to think ahead, Marza."

He walked into the bathroom after those words were said, promptly closing the door behind him. Marza sighed in relief, though she mentally felt more than a little guilty at having lied to her father right in the face like that.

' _Ah_ , _well_. _I_ ' _ll show her to them eventually_. _I promise myself_ – _and_ especially _my parents_ - _that_.'

She returned to her room with a small amount of haste, quickly opening and closing the door as she entered. She was ameliorated to find that the Larvitar had remained in the room, just as she had requested. She appeared to be scrounging around; for what, she had no idea.

"Hey, Larvitar. I'm back, and I believe that I've thought up a good nickname for you!"

The youngling turned around from its examination of the wall, and let out a happy cry. The Larvitar ran up to her with surprising speed and jumped into her torso, as if wanting a hug. She would have complied, if not for its startlingly huge amount of strength and speed; the force of the unintentional tackle sent her crashing to the floor, baby Pokémon now on her stomach as she landed. She let out a wheeze of pain, but the Larvitar hardly seemed to mind as it crawled up to her face and gave her a nuzzle. After recovering from her immediate pain, she returned the show of affection, giving it a few back rubs and a pat on the head. She attempted to get up, but found herself incapable of the task.

"Huh?" she mumbled, having another go at the action. She swiftly figured out why she was rendered incapable of getting up: this apparent alien was a _considerably_ heavier than it looked.

"Hey… You're kind of making it impossible for me to get up… Mind getting off of me?"

She complied after nary a second's hesitation, letting out a slightly sad "Tar…" as the green-skinned being did so.

"There's no need for that. I appreciated that, ah… _hug_ , don't be mistaken. It's just that you're stronger – and a lot _heavier_ – than you look.

The Larvitar understood her reasoning, nodding her head.

"Anyways, I think that I've come up with a pretty good name for you.

"How does "Oscura" sound?"

The little Larvitar nodded, letting out a bright "Larvi!"

Marza giggled at her response. "Oscura it is, then."

The pre-teen glanced at her clock. Her bus would be coming to pick her up in about fifteen minutes, and she was practically ready to go already. So, figuring that she had the time, she asked the newly christened Oscura: "So, Oscura, are you hungry?"

The Larvitar youngling nodded yet again, her belly grumbling just after she did that. Marza giggled again at this.

"Definitely hungry, then. I'll be right back with some food!"

She exited the room, leaving Oscura to her own devices. Not that she would do anything of major note in the human's absence, however; she liked pleasing Marza, after all, especially with how nicely she has been treating her.

The raven-haired lass returned three minutes later, a bowl of dry cereal and a small bowl of milk in each of her hands.

"Do these look good?"

The Larvitar waddled forward, giving the bowl of cereal a few sniffs, before shaking her head in the negative. She nodded her head at the water, however, taking a small sip from it. Marza thought for a moment on what it might like in the food department, and quickly came up with an idea. Turning her personal computer on, she went to the Google web-page and searched up things that the animals of Earth eat. Calling Oscura over, she showed her all of the things one the screen, scrolling through page after page of results. Oscura shook her head at everything Marza showed her, and just when the hope of finding something for the Pokémon began to run out, the Larvitar pointed at a certain image on the screen enthusiastically. What it was pointed toward left Marza sputtering.

"You want _rocks_ to eat?" she said, flabbergasted. Oscura nodded, tongue sliding across the top of her lips in a comical manner.

"What, do you eat _dirt_ , too?"

She nodded again.

Marza stared at Oscura for a solid three seconds before sighing good-naturedly.

"Well, at least rocks and dirt are hardly the most difficult things to come by. I wonder how expensive the stuff is online, though…"

She shook herself out of that train of though. There was now only four minutes left 'till her bus came to pick her up, so she had to act a bit fast with her next idea. Fast-walking out of her room, she went down the stairs and went outside, grabbing some pebbles and jamming them into her pockets. She did this for the next few seconds until said pockets were full, and ran back inside. Her mother stopped her in her tracks, however.

"Firstly, Marza, no running in-doors. Secondly, what are you doing with those rocks in your pockets?"

Marza sputtered before exclaiming, "Science project! It involves erosion!"

Erise raised a brow, but moved aside from the entrance of the stairwell, allowing her to pass.

"That girl sometimes…" she murmured to herself when she heard the door slam shut. "Ah, well. She _does_ take after me. But since when does the school assign these sorts of things as homework rather than as in-class projects?" She sighed as she walked over to the kitchen to begin prepping her own breakfast. "I hope she isn't lying to me about this for whatever reason…"

Marza grabbed the pebbles and inserted them into the bowl with the cereal. "Just eat the rocks by themselves if you want. Since the water was fine with you, I'll leave that there." she exhaled. "I'm going to school, and I'm sorry to say that you can't come with me."

Oscura whined softly.

"Again, I'm sorry. I don't want you being discovered for… well, _reasons_. I'll tell you when I get back, which'll be at around 3:30." Marza then remembered that, while she knows more than she should for being not a day old, Oscura still probably doesn't know e _verything_. "You see that clock? When it shows a three," she said, drawing out the number with a finger, "and then another three, and then a zero, that's when I'll be back. All right?" The Larvitar nodded in understanding. "It'll be a while. Just stay in here and try to keep yourself entertained without breaking anything, please…"

Marza gave Oscura one last glance before closing the door, going down the stairs, and waiting on the sidewalk adjacent to her family's house. The bus came along a minute and a half later, opening its door and allowing Marza inside to transport her to another day at school.

The red-eyed alien, meanwhile, cast a longing glance out the window at the bus at it left. She had something to eat and drink, yes, but doubtless she'd be bored in less than an hour.

So, she had to figure out something to do to keep herself entertained. Just _what_ would do so, however, was definitely the bigger question here…


	4. Chapter Three: Learning Curve

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Well, I think it's time that I say that I don't usually have much to say here in the Author's Notes, aside from the obligatory "enjoy the chapter", besides the following:

Trivia: Larvitar's nickname is a feminine twist on "oscuro", the Spanish word for "dark". Quite fitting, given the typing of the species' final evolution, hmm?

Shout-outs to NightmareTheFoxWitch for the Follow, Favorite, _and_ review, joycewu333 for the Follow and Review, and Karxrida for the Follow. And in response to those two Reviews:

'Tis appreciated, Nightmare, though you could definitely stand to be a tad less vague (no offense).

Well, it took an entire _minute_ of digging through Google Translate, but I believe that it's a decent nickname, as well. And to answer your question, joycewu:

I've no idea. I suppose that you'll have to forgive this teen-aged mind for not think of _every minute detail_. I _could_ give the bull-crap excuse relating energy to matter, and that Pokémon are primarily energy whilst they're eggs, but there are so many holes in that train of thought that it wouldn't be worth keeping its engine on in-story.

… Did that come across as condescending and/or angry? Apologies if it did…

And lastly: I'll be in Florida 'till next Friday, so don't expect an update until a couple days after that.

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Three: Learning Curve

* * *

Marza sighed as she got off the bus, feeling a not-so-inexplicable sense of dejá vú

' _Just because the previous afternoon_ \- _as well as this morning_ \- _were nothing short of_ extraordinary _hardly means that school will be affected_. _Really_ , why _did I think it_ ' _d be any different than average_?'

She opened the door, fully expecting her parents to greet her, but was mildly surprised that they were nowhere in her immediate field of view. A note was on the counter, and it read as follows:

 _As you know_ , _Marza_ , _this is one of my usual days off from work_. _However,_ _there was an abrupt business meeting called today_ , _so I_ ' _ll likely be home by the time you are asleep_. _So will your mother_ , _in fact_ ; _she has an urgent surgery to assist in_ , _so she might be home even later than me_. _I_ ' _ve already made your supper_ ; _it_ ' _s in the fridge_. _Do remember to warm it up_!

 _Your loving father_ , _Julius_.

"… He _is_ aware that this isn't actually a letter, that I can guess that it was him that wrote this, and that it was _just that one time_ , right?" she asked of no one in particular. She checked in the refrigerator, and, true to her father's written words, a meal was sitting right at the front of the second shelf from the top. She hummed appreciatively at Julius' work before closing the door to her family's refrigeration unit, walking upstairs to her room to check up on Oscura and organize her things.

Considering the Larvitar's age and subsequent curiosity to what is likely _everything_ , she fully expected to be greeted with a mess when she walked into her room. She was pleasantly surprised, however, when she discovered that only a few small things were out of their original positions. She spotted the Larvitar sitting on her bed, messing around with a collection of comically large letters. A box rested a few feet away, tipped over. Marza remembered this box and the large letters from her childhood; her parents noticed that she had a tougher than average time learning, so they got the idea to give her a bit of additional education at home, which involved learning the alphabet with these physical representations of the English characters. Marza probably would have thrown those things away _long_ ago, but Julius and Erise had insisted upon keeping them. "For memories' sake," they had said.

Well, it hardly had anything to do with sentimentality, but she certainly wasn't regretting keeping those things now!

Oscura was evidently having a tough time attempting to piece together the alphabet, which begged the question: "If you can understand me, then why can't you understand the alphabet?"

The little monster's head shot up in her direction, thoroughly surprised at her appearance.

"Oh, did I startle you? Sorry about that. Were you so caught up in your learning that you forgot to check the clock every now and then?"

She giggled softly at that train of thought, and the girl almost doubled over when Oscura's cheeks darkened with red. Said Pokémon gave an indignant "Taaar!"

"Sorry, sorry! It's – it's just too adorable!" she almost gasped out, with the Larvitar glowering at her. It hardly helped his image in terms of cuteness, however, and this time she actually _did_ hunch over.

' _This_ … _actually feels kind of_ nice,' she thought as she began to recover from her fit of laughter. ' _I don_ ' _t really get too many opportunities to be like this_ , _do I_ …?' She got up and sat on the bed next to the Pokémon once she was done with her giggling, and began to assist the Pokémon on learning the English characters.

"I can see that you're trying, but you've got it all wrong. The first one is "A"…"

And so she tutored the Rock Skin Pokémon for the next few hours, going through the alphabet – as well as decent amount of basic math – until it was half-past seven. Marza was startled in equal parts by the alien's patience (she wasn't even two days old, and yet she can sit still for so long!?) and aptitude for learning; only around four hours of learning in, and she had already memorized the alphabet. She couldn't say the actual letters (Marza would make a mental note to ask those of her species why they couldn't say more than their own name, or at least chunks of it), so Marza instead opted to teach the Pokémon how to write when she had mastered the alphabet to its fullest.

Seeing as how it was now a few minutes past 7:30 (as the clock and the grumbling of their respective bellies indicated), Marza decided to grab supper for the both of them. While her own food heated up in the microwave, she went outside to grab a small pile of pebbles. Like before, she stuffed them into her pockets 'till she felt they were about to burst. The lass filled up a few glasses of water for herself and Oscura in the kitchen (she would take the bowls down on her second trip to grab her food; Oscura was very clearly an intelligent being, and she hardly liked giving her sustenance like an animal), and, after grabbing her plate of food, sat down next to the Larvitar on her bed. Asking the little alien to be careful with her water, she ate her food rapidly; her hunger was more prevalent than average, as the school's lunch food on that particular day was even lower than its usually bad quality. Marza was startled at how quietly the Rock Skin Pokémon ate; the only things she could her from her mouth were a few quiet crunches of broken rock. She awkwardly looked away when Oscura noticed her stare, and the other female cocked her horned head.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that you eat with surprisingly little noise, especially considering that you eat _rocks_." The little Larvitar's eyes widened a bit before she managed a shrug. Marza reciprocated the action with a shrug of her own.

Half an hour passed. Marza sat down on her computer for the next hour, finishing up on some homework. The Larvitar, meanwhile, was working on assembling together various words that her makeshift teacher had given her as a learning assignment. Oscura cheered every time she made a word correctly, and Marza gave her the occasional words of praise. Just as Marza finished up on her own work, the Larvitar did the same. The human gave the Pokémon a few pats on the head for her well-done deed before stating that it was time for sleep. The Larvitar joined her in bed as she oriented the large amount of blankets to cover herself up, as well as the red-eyed Pokémon.

The young woman gave the even younger alien another couple of pats on the head as it snuggled up to her before she closed her eyes, entering a deep, peaceful sleep…


	5. Chapter Four: Another Day

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

I'm finally back from my half-month-long vacation, and also here to resume my story! Thank you for your patience, dear readers, and enjoy this chapter, as well as the ones to come!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Four: Another Day

* * *

…

" _Hello_? _Child_?"

…

" _Are you_ entirely certain _that you_ ' _re channeling this dream to the right person_ , _Cresselia_? _And that we_ 'r _e even sending this projection to the right_ dimension, _Palkia_?"

…

" _Oh_? _She_ _is merely having a particularly deep_ , _dreamless sleep_?"

…

" _I see_ … _We shall merely have to try again at a later point_ , _then._ "

…

" _Even if you cannot hear me, child_ … _Have a restful slumber_."

…

* * *

Marza woke quickly from her sleep, as if she had just been jolted awake.

' _Weird_ … _It almost feels like_ _I_ ' _m being watched_ …'

She propped herself up, glancing out of the window. It revealed to her nothing besides the morning light and the tree in her family's yard. She shrugged, brushing the inexplicable feeling of suspicion aside for the moment as she gently shook Oscura to wake her up. The ruby-eyed alien did so sluggishly and with a seconds-long yawn. Marza felt tempted to "d'aww" like she did when she first saw her unhatched, but once again barely managed a refrain. The little Larvitar glanced up at the human before glancing at the window, revealing to her that it was most certainly morning and thusly time to get up. She merely shook her head sleepily in response to this revelation, closing her eyes and attempting to get back to sleep.

Marza giggled at her antics before denying the Larvitar of her sleep, saying, "Come on, Oscura. It's morning; time to get up!"

The green-skinned tyke merely grumbled adorably.

Marza was promptly left with little choice but to be swayed by her unintentional cuteness.

She left the room quickly and quietly, heading off to the bathroom to do her typical morning business. Nearly half an hour later, and she was back in her room, getting her stuff together and packed into her primarily magenta backpack. Oscura was still sleeping, or at least pretending to do so to avoid getting up.

' _Well_ , _she_ is _just a child_. _An alien one that knows way_ , way _more than is should for its age_ , _plus being too cute to be real_ , _but still certainly a child_.'

She went downstairs to ingest her breakfast, and once that was over with, she went outside to grab some more stones from the pool of the things lining the perimeter of the house. Julius and Erise didn't confront her this time, as they had to leave to work early on that particular day. Once she got back in her room, she looked on at the Larvitar, who was evidently _still_ asleep. Marza knew it'd likely be pointless, yet she spoke anyway:

"Well, I guess I'll let you sleep in for now. I'll be back at around the same time as yesterday, so hang tight and don't get spotted by my parents if they get home before me; try studying up with those letters if you get bored."

The girl then proceeded to exit her living space, then out of the house, being mindful of closing the door on her way out.

One of the more notorious incidents of her younger years involved her accidentally leaving the door open on her way to the curb for the bus; it was the last day of that school year, so she was rather eager to get her education over with for that moment. As both her mother and father were absent from the house for their respective day-jobs, the door was left open for several hours straight, letting a considerable quantity of hot, pre-summer air into the house.

Nothing in the refrigerator or even the freezer survived those hours of heated air, what with them being more than a dozen years old. Julius and Erise were understandably frustrated at discovering the large amounts of spoiled food and the massive puddle of water surrounding the combination freezer-refrigerator. Needless to say, but Marza was lucky to only get off with a harsh scolding and a few days of being grounded in her room, as well as a reminder to always close doors on her way out of places, be they of rooms or buildings.

Once she heard the house's entrance/exit door open and close, Oscura couldn't help but giggle mischievously. It hadn't really served any purpose, but her little act had managed to fool the human! The Larvitar felt a tad guilty for deceiving her like that, but it was really of no importance in the long run. The ruby-eyed, alien child put a stubby limb to her chin once she came down from her humor high.

' _What to do now_ …?'

Her seven-ish hours of school for the day over and done with, Marza returned home on the bus, as she did nearly every other day of the school year.

' _Good thing there_ ' _s only a week and a half of school left_. _I don_ ' _t really know if I can keep Oscura occupied like this for any longer than that_ …' She glanced down at the homework on her lap. The incessant chatter from the other kids on the bus in combination with the constant bumps in the road made it difficult to focus on finishing the assignment in front of her, but she _would_ get it done. She promised herself that, for the sake of keeping the alien in her room entertained, and subsequently keeping her secret safe, at least for the time being.

'… _Now that I think about it that way_ , _it_ ' _s almost as if I_ ' _m re_ - _enacting that one movie_ … _Oh_ , _what was it called again_ …? _I_. _T_.? _I_. _Q_.? _Something like that_ … _And I_ really _need to finish this thing up already_. _Stop getting me off_ _track_ , _brain_!'

She managed to get her work done a mere minute and a half before the bus came to a stop at her house. Heaving a sigh of relief as the noise contained in the yellow vehicle rolled along and away (as having better hearing than average wasn't always a good thing), she opened the door, being greeted by her father.

"How was your school day, honey?" he inquired from the table, brows raised.

"Just fi–" She halted herself, remembering what her parents had requested of her two days prior to this moment. "It went decently enough, I suppose."

Marza's parents grinned at her response.

"Now, was that so hard, Marza?" spoke Erise, thoroughly amused and pleased at this.

"No, it wasn't," grumbled the lass as she headed into her room. "Oh, and before you go into your room, Marza? I've been hearing some odd noises in there while you were gone. Is there anything I should be concerned about up there? A new pet of yours, maybe? Because you know we don't allow animals in the house."

Marza was glad she was already facing her door; her parents couldn't see her nervous face as a result.

"Oh, nothing of importance, Mom. It's not a pet, and it's nothing you need to worry about," she lied, voice perfectly even, feeling a twinge of guilt in her chest.

' _It_ ' _s_ _not_ technically _a lie_ , _at least_ ; _Oscura in no animal_ , _and they really don_ ' _t need to worry because I_ ' _ve been taking good care of her_ ,' she re-assured herself.

"Well, if you _feel_ so, honey," Erise said back, a knowing edge in her tone.

"And indeed I do, Mom," retorted Marza as she entered the room and shut her door. Erise leaned over into her spouse's ear after a minute of silence, whispering to him, "I'm going to take a peek into her room tomorrow, before she gets home from school. You want to come with?"

"Oh, Erise… So devious of you. Well, if it's to figure out what is going on in her room, then I suppose that I shall," he agreed, half-serious, half-joking. The two laughed for a second, one gently and one slightly over-exaggerated…

The relatively young human was greeted with an odd sight upon entering her room; Oscura was positioned on top of a stack of books, which were, themselves, on top of her computer chair. If the monitor was anything to go by, the Larvitar was apparently attempting to navigate the Internet. She saw that the alien wasn't exactly haven't having any real amount of success, what with the screen displaying a page with the sentence "Webpage not available!" on it.

"Oscura, are you attempting to use my computer?" inquired the human girl, equal parts exasperated and fascinated. The Rock Skin Pokémon turned around to face her, startled.

"… Were you really so into that you didn't even _hear_ the door opening and closing?"

The Larvitar let out an indignant "Larvi!" at her jab, cheeks becoming a tad reddened. Marza giggled for a second at this before getting serious.

"Did you practice the alphabet and English?" Oscura nodded twice.

"Well, now that I think about it, it'd be pretty obvious that you'd get bored of just the alphabet after a while…" Marza nodded, herself.

"Okay, so I'll teach you how to use this thing –" she pointed at her personal computer – "because I know that learning gets boring, and fast, even if it's healthy and productive." She gently picked Oscura off of the pile of books, setting those down on the floor next to her after she did the same to the little alien. Picking her up again after that and putting the Rock Skin Pokémon on her lap, she said,

"It's definitely a bit complicated, but to use the PC, you've first got to master the controls of the keyboard and mouse…"

A number of hours passed, with Marza educating the alien on how the correctly use the PC and its add-ons, only being interrupted by the human's need to eat supper and grab some more rocks and water for her (potentially indefinite) guest, and before either of them knew it, it was once again time to rest up for tomorrow. The undeniably odd pair tucked themselves in after shutting the PC down, and were gone to Dreamland not ten minutes later…

* * *

…

" _Is she going to be sleeping deeply again_?"

…

" _Hmm_. _Best make this conversation swift_ , _then_ …"

…


	6. Chapter Five: Word of God

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

… I've nothing to say here this time, really, besides this:

Thank you for your patience. I know that these chapters are somewhat short, and slow on updates for such small word counts, but I am but a lazy teenager. For that, I ask that you forgive me.

Secondly, on a less serious note: Shout-outs to Something dictionary related and mikeyb93 for the Follows, especially to the latter for the Favorite! Your mere attention humbles me!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Five: Word of God

* * *

Cue music – _Xenoblade Chronicles_ soundtrack – _The Spiritual World_

…

" _Hello_ , _child_."

Marza's eyes slowly cracked opened, revealing to her the multi-colored swirls of energy and the many stars in the distance.

' _Wait a second_ … stars!?'

She instinctually took in a gasp of air, and was pleasantly surprised to find that she was still very much capable of breathing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she spoke to herself, "So, this isn't space… Probably a dream, then."

" _Erm_ … _Child_? _Hello_?"

"What questions that does _not_ answer, however, is why I would dream something like this up, as well as what that odd voice in the back of my head is supposed to be. Hello, odd voice in the back of my head!"

"… _Hello_?"

"Are you my wake-self? You sound really strange to be myself when I'm awake, though..."

The voice, in turn, sighed.

" _Child_ , _just turn around_ …"

She did so with nary a hint of hesitation. She was flummoxed with the sight that she was met with; an immense, quadrupedal being with a primarily gray-on-white color scheme was staring down upon her. Red irises in combination with green scleras made its gaze rather intensive, regardless of the being's true intents. A strange ring with large protrusions made of what appeared to be _gold_ was wrapped firmly around its… waist? Barrel?

' _I_ ' _ll go with barrel for now_ ,' she decided silently. The way its limbs were shaped reminded Marza distinctly of some sort of horse, especially with the gilded coverings in the tips. ' _Kind of like horseshoes for equine royalty_ ,' she thought humorously. ' _That thing_ looks _the part_ , _at least_ …'

" _I don_ ' _t take kindly to being called a_ " _thing_ ", _you know_."

" _Aaand_ you can read minds. _Fantastic_. Guess this proves that you're not some dream apparition, then. Want to tell me why you're here?"

The entity, for its part, was rather miffed by her rudeness.

" _It is not exactly that difficult for one such as myself to read minds_ , _especially when I am already_ in _one_. _Also_ , _has there been any reason on your part to be so rude to a stranger_?" Its eyes imperceptibly widened. " _You_ do _realize that you are making quite the terrible first impression_ , _correct_?"

Marza glared at the massive entity momentarily before backing off with her aggression. "Sorry, it's just… my autism makes me untoward to new people."

" _A mental disorder_?" the being pieced together. " _That_ would _explain why your dreamscape in particular is so different from most of the other humans_ ' _minds that I have the opportunity to investigate_ …"

It shook its head, remembering why it was here.

" _But_ , _alas_ , _I have not come here to intrude upon your most sacred of places_. _I am here to give you information that will likely answer much of the questions you doubtlessly have_ , _but before that_ , _I feel that some introductions are in order_.

" _I am Arceus_ , _the Alpha Pokémon_. _What might your name be_ , _child_?"

The girl took in a deep breath before responding, "Marza Guardia."

The now-identified Arceus let out an appraising hum. It somehow sounded like the wind blowing through several flutes, making an inexplicably beautiful sound.

" _Well_ , _Marza_ , _to answer the first question that you are brewing up_ , _I am a Pokémon_ , _as I have already stated_. _Pokémon come in hundreds of shapes, forms, and species_ , _and inhabit a world not of your own_. _As you may have already guessed at with this new knowledge_ , _the egg that has come to you is one of a Pokémon_. _Tell me_ , _Marza_ ; _has it hatched_?"

"… Yes, it has," she said after thinking over this new material. "It hatched into a Larvitar, a female one. I named her Oscura, because it'd get confusing if I end up meeting any other Larvitar." A moment of silence. "There _are_ other Larvitar in your world, right?" Arceus couldn't help but laugh internally.

" _But of course_. _I trust that you are taking good care of her_?"

"Yeah. She's taken a liking to me, I think, and I definitely reciprocate those feelings, even _if_ we've only known each other for a few days. She's actually kind of a refreshment from my normal, everyday life – which, let me tell you, is very, _very_ stale."

" _That is good to hear_."

A comfortable silence went on between the two for a few seconds before Marza asked of the godly Pokémon: "So, are you the one who gave Oscura to me?"

" _Indeed_. _Do you wish to know why_?"

Marza immediately responded in the affirmative. "It must've been really important, if you had to send her to another _dimension_ entirely." The Alpha Pokémon nodded its head.

" _The reason_ _is both simple and complex_ , _as you shall come to know_. _A few days ago_ , _one of my first children_ , _Dialga_ , _had received a vision from the future_. _It depicted a rather grizzly scene_ ; _entire cities lied in ruins_ , _with many lives being lost_. _A mere two beings were evidently responsible for these atrocities_ ; _a man in dressed entirely in black_ , _with the exception of a bright red_ " _R_ " _on his suit_ , _commanded a large_ , _pale green Pokémon_. _I believe that that Pokémon… was Oscura_."

Marza couldn't help but gasp in shock. "No way! Oscura's too sweet for that!"

" _But this man in particular was not_. _I would imagine that he likely mistreated her to the point of abuse_ , _forcing her to grow stronger and stronger until he became ready to subjugate the world_ , _using Oscura as his means of doing so_. _I decided that I could not afford to risk keeping her in this world_ , _leaving me with little other option but to send her to a separate reality_. _Another child of mine_ , _Palkia_ , _came up with the idea that idea_ , _and with his aid_ , _we sent the egg to this realm_ , _and_ , _subsequently_ , _into your hands_."

"Okay… So you sent her here instead of, let's say, keeping her yourself? You look capable of defending yourself _and_ playing baby sitter, so I don't so why you couldn't have just done that." Arceus let out a whistly sigh.

" _You would bring up a good point were it not for the fact that my home realm is_ … _not exactly inhabitable for mortals_. _No food_ , _no water_ , _no truly_ real _things aside from me_. _It looks quite a bit like this dream_ , _if you want to imagine it that way_. _My children are not exactly the most amiable when it comes to children_ , _either_ , _especially my third one_ …"

Marza wasn't entirely certain about who it was referring to in that last part, but she could definitely acknowledge the small string of resentment in its voice. Brushing that thought aside for the moment, she next said, "All right, but that doesn't really answer why Oscura ended up in _my_ room instead of… oh, I don't know, my neighbor's house?" Arceus laughed softly.

" _Ah_ , _but that is the work of one of the most powerful forces of any universe_ : coincidence. _It was really by complete and utter_ chance _that the Larvitar ended up in your hands rather than someone else_ ' _s_."

It looked ready to continue, but was rudely interrupted by a sudden quake. Marza was about to question how something like an earthquake could happen in a dream such as this before Arceus answered the unspoken question for her:

" _It would seem as if you are waking up_. _I_ ' _ve one last thing to say_ , _Marza_ …"

Its eyes lit up fiercely as it reared up dramatically and intimidatingly, made all the more so by the constant quaking and random spots of space completely disappearing.

" _If you do not continue to take care of that Pokémon properly_ , _then I shall show you_ no mercy _in my penance_ …!"

And then the dream dissolved into a black nothing.


	7. Chapter Six: Discovery

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

… Nothing to say here. _A_ _gain_. Well, besides the obligatory shout-outs:

Thank you, TheLoneAce, Coral the Leviathan and Devanor, for the Follows, as well as to nyanyanya22 for the Favorite! A bigger than average shout-out to Readerfever for both the Favorite _and_ the Follow! As always, my gratitude for you attention!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , and _Monsters_

Chapter Six: Discovery

* * *

Marza roused from her slumber with a gasp, startled by Arceus' last words to her. It took her a few moments to process them.

' _Well_ , _I_ ' _m not one to disappoint_. _As far as I_ ' _m concerned_ , _I_ ' _m already doing a decent job of taking care of Oscura_ , _so_ …'

A shrug.

And speaking of the little Larvitar, she was just beginning to get around to waking as well, doing so, like with the previous days, with a yawn. A glance upward from the Pokémon. A glance downward from the human. They shared that glance for several seconds before Marza slowly got herself up and out of bed, announcing, "Well, it's another day of school for me, Oscura, so I suppose that I'll be doing the usual by this point: cleaning myself up, getting you some stones and water, and then going to school."

She paused in her tracks, as she was already heading for the door.

' _The fact that I_ ' _m already beginning to consider this_ normal _is_ … _rather startling_. _And disconcerting_. _Very_ , very _disconcerting_.'

She sighed softly after she closed the door, Oscura looking at her with concern as she did so. Her sigh _sounded_ as if she was worried, though the Rock Skin Pokémon wasn't really certain as to what was making her feel such. There wasn't really anything she could do about it, what with Marza being incapable of understanding her, at least at the moment, so she was left with little other choice but to let the issue go for now.

' _May as well get out the letters and practice the alphabet_ …' the Pokémon decided upon, doing so after finally getting those last, pesky flecks of sleepiness out of her eyes.

Marza grabbed Oscura her food and drink and departed for school a couple of minutes later, prepared for another droll day of education and the imminent irritation that is the average human her age.

Unfortunately for her, she was in for a notably rough time on that particular day.

Oh, _sure_ , it started out average enough. Kids talking and, more prominently, yelling at completely unnecessary volumes about the most mundane things possible even after the bell rang was hardly an uncommon occurrence, but nearly _half_ of them coming over specifically to discuss the most overly dubious of rumors (most of which she debunked near-effortlessly) decidedly _was_.

Several of these instances later, she had had enough, going over to the teacher and asking why she had not yet started class. She answered, in an ire-filled tone not too dissimilar to Marza's, that her computer was bugging out, preventing her from getting the class' current attendance to the super attendant. Marza's teacher got up with a frustrated growl and announced to her class that she would be out of the room for a few minutes to get the attendance to the office physically.

Once the clicks of the door closing shut rang out, most of the children in the class cheered, resuming their conversations with almost twice the previous volume, irritating Marza in both mood and ears. The booming, incessant chattering, in combination with her thoroughly soured attitude at that moment, resulted in a rather dramatic reaction; she near-screamed " _Enough of this_!" and left for one of the bathrooms. She hardly had to use them at that moment; she just needed to get away from the class, and the resultant pain and anger that it roused in her.

Her variation of autism, commonly referred to as Asperger's, resulted in a higher than average intellect beyond her first few years of life. However, this came with two rather distinctive trade-offs: a large aversion to being social was ingrained into her mind-set, and loud noises resulted in pain of ears of exposed to long enough.

Needless to say, she was not the biggest fan of the two happening in tandem.

She sat on a toilet inside a stall for several minutes, brooding, yet also attempting to calm herself down at the same time. It took around ten minutes, but she succeeded in quelling her turmoil, at least for the moment. She acknowledged that she was likely late to class – if only strictly speaking, as the attendance had already been turned in – but, for the sake of her nerves, patience, and concentration, Marza decided that it was well worth it.

Unluckily for her, the teacher had spotted her walking into the class room as her lecture on algebra began, resulting in a brief scolding about asking the teacher to go to the bathroom before actually doing so.

Marza's response is as follows:

"In case you hadn't noticed, everyone in here gets rather noisy _extremely_ quickly, and in case you've forgotten, I have Autism. Let me give you a quick equation: loud noise plus Autistic people equals irritation and headaches, so I suppose that you'll have to forgive me if I need some alone time in the face of those. And another thing? I don't like being treated as someone half my age."

The teacher, for her part, looked immensely aggravated, but, with a sigh, backed off, simply telling her to sit in her chair, resignation clear in her voice.

A decent chunk of the kids chortled at her come back, but a quick, irritated glare from teacher and student alike sent them into silence once again as she did as the teacher requested.

The class went on as it usually did from that point on, and the bell rang at its usual time. The students rushed out of the room and to their next classes, some more quickly than others. Marza was the last to leave the room, as she had actually bothered to wait to pack her stuff until the bell rang. Unbeknownst to her, the teacher had gave her a worried look as she exited, clearly concerned for her regardless of her previous rudeness.

Before she headed off to her next class, Marza had to stop by her locker and retrieve the things she needed for it – specifically, a markedly large text book. She struggled with carrying its weight momentarily before placing it on top of her binder, and she leaned over to take the remaining things that she required. Before that could happen, however, a duo of boys accosted her. The slightly taller one on her left saying to her, tauntingly, "Oh, that's a pretty big-lookin' book ya' got there, Marza! Ya' _sure_ that'cha don't need some, ah… _help_ with it?"

Before she could even get the chance to answer the inquiry, he took it and tossed it over to his apparent friend, who then proceeded to mock-inspect it.

"Oh, this is one of those history books for you sixth-graders, ain't it? I hope that'cha won't mind if we _borrow_ it for a while!" The pair of bullies chuckled, turning around to leave, book still in hand.

They were _really_ not prepared for what happened next, though.

Marza grabbed the book-carrying on by his long, scruffy locks of hair, resulting in a hiss of pain from him as she tugged him towards her.

"Give my book back." A harsher, more firm tug. " _Now_."

"Alright, alright! Geez, no need for violence!" He slowly positioned his hand behind his shoulder, giving Marza the opportunity to retrieve her book, and quickly twirled around to face the other bully sneaking up on her.

"And _you_! I'll do _more_ than give you a tug on your ugly mop of hair if you don't back off!" She raised a fist menacingly, shooting him the nastiest glare she could manage.

Her little ploy seemed to work, as he did so fearfully and with much haste in his steps. The two slowly backed away from the girl before another voice interrupted the three's standoff:

" _What is going on here_!?"

A sharply dressed, chocolate-skinned woman walked in from the circle of students that had formed around the scene, appearing to be rather agitated by the confrontation. "Have you three been fighting?"

A glare was sent at all three of them, though a second later it was instead directed solely at the two misfits.

"Have you two been going at Marza again?"

Two shaky nods.

"Oh, _for the love of_ – My office! _Immediately_!"

The two did as she ordered, scurrying off to the nearby stairwell. The woman relaxed once they were out of sight, though she still gave a sharp order to all of the other students in the immediate vicinity: "And _why_ , precisely, are you all still here? Go on! You are _all_ late for your classes by this point!" And right on cue, the bell rang. The circle of students disbanded upon hearing this sound and nearly sprinted to their respective lockers and/or classes.

Once all but a few of them had left, the woman sighed.

"Marza. I know that those two constantly attempt to get at your nerves, but you can't just resort to physical violence, however much they may deserve it. As the principal, I could easily order a suspension for you for your actions, yet I don't. Do you know why that is?"

Marza exhaled loudly. "Because those two delinquents are always starting these encounters, yes. You must understand that I wasn't really given any other option, however, especially in this specific case. They were about to run off my book –" she waved it around a bit for emphasis – "and there were no teachers nearby. You and I both know that words are practically incapable of persuading them away from things such as this, so…"

The principal once again sighed. "I suppose that your actions are justified this time, then. Do be aware that any more cases of violence will result in punishments for you as well as those other two. Now, get to class. I'll give your history teacher an e-mail explaining why you are late." The girl nodded, picking up her moderately sized pile of school materials and heading off to her destination.

The principal, like Marza's teacher for her first period, sighed worriedly for the lass...

* * *

A few hours into the future, the parents of Marza were chuckling enthusiastically because of a skit in show that had just finished. It involved a small tiger, a rat, and the former's repeated attempts at catching the latter, which always ended up failing in an either hilarious or spectacular fashion.

Typically both.

"Alright, Erise. Our daughter should be home in about an hour, so do you want to get check out her room and see what's keeping her occupied as of late?"

The mother of Marza thought pensively for a moment.

"Well, our little marathon of shows is over, so I suppose so."

The married couple ascended the stairs, walking up to Marza's door, with one of them knocking once they did so. "Honey, why are you knocking? There's no one else home," inquired Julius, appearing to be genuinely curious. Then, suddenly, the sounds of something crashing to the floor in Marza's room sounded out, resulting in a smug smile from Erise.

"Oh, but how oh _how_ do we know that for certain?" She got a shrug from the man as an answer.

' _She always_ was _the impractical thinker_ ,' he reminisced.

Erise opened the door slowly, and, just out of the corner of her eye, spotted a little green blur leap into the closet to her left, closing it hastily not a moment later.

"Hmm?" she couldn't help but let out, a tad startled.

There were plenty of animals that she knew of that were green, though significantly less that were around that hieght, and most all of those were still rather exotic.

' _I hope she hasn_ ' _t somehow managed to smuggle in something that she shouldn_ ' _t have_ …' she thought, however ridiculous the notion was considering Marza's age and distinct lack of funds.

Little was she aware that it was most _definitely_ exotic. More exotic than anything she had ever seen before, in fact.

She sluggishly made her way to the closet door, opening it with all of the carefulness she could muster.

A pair of almost comically large ruby red eyes looked up at her from the singular, unlit corner of the closet space. The eyes stared at her for several seconds, not even blinking once, until Erise re-assuredly called out to it: "You came come out. We aren't going to hurt you." The whatever-it-was stood stock-still for another several seconds before it finally came into the light, revealing itself to Marza's mother.

Her first response?

Squeal loudly at the sheer scale of its adorableness.


	8. Chapter Seven: Explanations

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

So. Another chapter, and another Author's Note section that is quite short, and would be virtually empty were it not for the following:

Shout-outs to AtomicOverlord and Saraceaser for the Favorite and Follow, and especially to you, Saraceaser, for the additional Review! Your words are humbling.

Also, in response to your question, Saraceaser, I meant that Pokémon don't exist _at all_. No video games, no cartoon-like anime, no card games, _nothing_. Nor do several major media franchises, actually, but that's more for the sake of comedy, if I decide to put some references.

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Seven: Explanations

* * *

And I really _do_ mean _loudly_. So loudly, in fact, that Julius came running in, mistaking her squeal for a shriek of fear.

"Erise! What's wro–!?" He went silent as soon as he saw his wife cuddling the… well, _whatever it was_ in her arms. The thing was struggling to get out of her grasp (and face), squirming frantically with its stubby arms and legs.

A relatively miniscule number of moments later, the thing had had enough of the woman's cheekiness, opening its mouth and taking a deep breath before letting out a truly ear-splitting screech. Erise let go of it in shock, instinctually covering her ears to protect her from the deafening noise, dropping to the floor due to the sharp pain in her ears. Julius did the same, allowing the creature to escape from the room and flee down the stairwell.

A few seconds passed before the pain of the screech wore off and the couple uncovered their ears.

"Well, that thing may be adorable, as well as quite small, but it is really, _really_ loud," observed Erise, voice a tad numb from shock. Her inner little girl couldn't help but give the thing a cuddle, but after she got over that, she couldn't but be dumbfounded by its appearance. _Nothing_ in this world was that cute, aside from things like puppies and kittens. In fact, she couldn't recall anything on Earth that looked remotely _like_ the creature to begin with, which lead her to the following conclusion:

"Honey… I think that our daughter has been hosting an alien in her room."

"I do believe that she has been, yes." Erise was very nearly shocked about his immediate agreement, but remembered that he married him for a reason. Well, several, actually: namely his great intelligence (much like her own) and tolerance of her Asperger's.

The two sat in a somewhat awkward silence for the next several seconds. Another crash made the apparent alien known to them again, and they promptly got up. "Well, I suppose that it's time that we round up an alien, hmm?" inquired Erise's husband rhetorically.

"So it would seem, honey!" And the two exited the room and walked down the stairs, getting started on the long, tedious process of catching a notably evasive Pokémon.

Unbeknownst to them, they were in for quite the long haul…

* * *

"I've got it!"

"No, you don't!"

"Wh – how did it even–!?"

* * *

"It's in the corner! Erise, get over here!"

"And where are you, exactly!?"

"The kitch–! _For the love of_ …!"

* * *

"Alright… It's in the bathroom… Nowhere left for it to run now…!"

"About that… It kind of got into the vent space in the wall…"

"Oh, _you_ ' _ve got to be kidding me_ …!"

* * *

Finally, after nearly an hour of scouring the house several times over, the pair had caught the creature, imprisoning it in a wrapping consisting of about half a dozen blankets and sheets, restricting its movement quite thoroughly. Both Erise and Julius exhaled loudly in a combination of exhaustion and relief, flopping down carelessly on their plush living room couch. The thing was still in its confines even after several minutes of struggling, to no avail.

"Man, this thing must be quite the large bundle of energy to still be attempting to run after all of the fleeing it's done, especially considering that it did so for the past hour …" Julius merely nodded in agreement, attempting to save his energy to get rid of his immediate tiredness.

Just then, the door opened and Marza walked into the house. She barely even needed a single second to comprehend the situation that she was observing (however silly-looking Oscura was underneath the many layers of fabric) before saying to her parents a simple, three-word phrase:

"I can explain."

"You had better make that explanation good, then, because you are already _very_ deep into trouble for keeping something such as this a secret to us!" responded Erise, looking thoroughly aggravated. "Your _pet_ made us quite literally run all over the house to catch it! It took us an _hour_ to finally catch it, most of which consisted of running!"

Marza sighed resignedly, putting a hand at the bridge of her nose to rub it, as if preparing herself for the worst moments of her life. "Just give me a minute to calm myself down and figure out what to say. I've already had a bad day at school, and this little _situation_ is hardly helping my mood…"

And indeed, the parents of Marza gave their child the minute she needed, plus some seven seconds, during which she came over to the living room and sat herself down on a nearby chair. "Okay… So, first off, Oscura is not a _thing_ ; _she_ is a _Larvitar_. Speaking of which, I'm going to have to ask that you give me her." They did so with reluctance, with Erise warning her to be careful with it. "She screeched right into my ear, you know, and you can imagine that it hurt quite a bit."

"That's probably because you startled her, Mom. So, tell me: what did you do when you first saw her? In fact, _when_ and _how_ did you first see her?"

Erise blushed. "Erm… Well, I… gave her some cuddles?"

Marza sighed out, "And how intensive did you get with said cuddles?"

"… Apparently intense enough to warrant an extremely loud screech? I don't know. Julius, how intensive do you think my cuddles were?"

Julius gave a sigh of his own. "Excessively intensive, dear, like you during some of your mood swings when you were pregnant."

Erise gave her spouse a look so extraordinarily sour to the point where her face could be mistaken for some child's snack before continuing to answer her daughter:

"And as for your second and third questions, Julius and I decided yesterday to go up to your room and check out what was warranting rocks and water, of all things, and just over an hour ago, we found your Larvitar, hiding in your closet from us. And speaking of rocks, why were you grabbing stones from our yard?"

Only just then noticing Oscura's wiggles, the girl began to unwrap her from her bonds as she responded: "I was startled to find this out, as well, but it turns out that Oscura eats _rocks_ and _dirt_." Her parents' brows rose accordingly. "She eats _what_?" they said simultaneously.

"I _know_ , right!? How _anything_ like Oscura can sustain itself off of just rocks, dirt, and a bit of water escapes even me!" The Rock Skin Pokémon came fully unwrapped at last, and she stretched her (rather short) limbs with a small grunt.

"Well, that is certainly strange, but that doesn't answer the most important questions here," Marza's father spoke up, sounding quite curious. "Just what is Oscura – who is likely an alien – doing _here_ , in this house of all places?"

Marza sighed once again. "Okay, so here's where it begins to get complicated. This next spiel of mine will likely answer the rest of your questions, so pay close attention to this next bit.

"You're right about Oscura being an alien, though she isn't one in the literal or traditional senses; rather, she comes from an alternate dimension filled to the brim with beings like her. They're collectively called Pokémon, and I presume that they're about as intelligent as us. Isn't that right, Oscura?" The little alien nodded. Marza's parents' eyes bugged out a bit at the revelation that she could understand English.

"Yes, she is intelligent; in fact, when I got her as an egg four days back, she somehow immediately understood English mere _hours_ after she hatched and could react accordingly. _How_ that works? I've no idea, and I may never learn how, either.

"Anyway, you're probably wondering how I came across all of this information even though I've only known Oscura for a few short days. Well, here's the strangest part of it all, by and far; this being called Arceus came to me in a _dream_ and told me this stuff."

Erise and Julius' brows rose. "I'm fairly certain that I'm not going insane, either – it just… inexplicably makes _sense_ to me. I think it was real and telling the truth, as well – after all, it was somehow aware that I was in possession of the egg that would later hatch into Oscura, even though it was in an alternate dimension entirely, and it knew that I was taking good care of her, as well. I _am_ doing that, by the way, and I intend to continue doing so.

"So, to finally answer your last two unspoken questions, both of those likely relating to the _why_ , well… Arceus said that Oscura was sent to this house in particular by complete and utter _chance_ ; nothing else. And as for why she had to be sent away from her home to begin with…" Oscura perked up at this, eyes widening in curiosity.

Marza gave her longest, most melodramatic sigh yet. "Promise you won't over-react to this last part?" The two gave an uncertain nod. "And that you won't get depressed about this, Oscura?" A third nod. "Okay… So, Oscura apparently caused a lot of destruction a few years into the future of her home world, razing several cities to the ground and probably… _you know_ …"

Julius and Erise gasped at this new information. Oscura looked to be on the verge of tears, though she wiped them away just as they were about to flow free from her eyes. "So you're saying that you've basically been raising some _monster_ from a parallel universe?"

"I wasn't finished! The reason that Oscura did all of that was because of this evil man. He probably abused her and forced her to do these things! She hasn't attacked me, and she hasn't ever made an attempt to harm _you_ _two_ outside of that screech, has she?" she nearly yelled out, clutching Oscura close, both for her comfort and protection. Her parents looked a bit unsure of their previous accusation now, glancing at each other for a moment before the patriarch of the family exhaled softly.

"Marza... I've no idea what this "Arceus" fellow has gotten us into, or if you're even telling us the truth. If I had the option to, Erise and I would have Oscura kicked out of the house…" Marza clutched the green-skinned Pokémon tighter at this, with Oscura clutching the girl's stomach area tightly. "… However, as I have just implied, we don't really _have_ any other options. Where would Oscura go? To our rowdy, generally irresponsible neighbors? The local pet shelter, to never be picked up and truly taken care of? Or – goodness forbid it – a laboratory of some sort to be experimented on? No, the moment she came into your possession, the situation was out of our hands. We don't really have any other choice _but_ to keep her here."

Marza and Oscura released their respective grips of from each other. "… Really?"

Erise spoke for her husband: "Now that I think about it… Yes, I suppose that you're right, Julius. Yes, Marza, you can keep Oscura."

The odd pairing of human and Pokémon were almost immediately tempted to jump for joy, but Marza managed a refrain. Oscura, on the other hand?

" _Laaaaar_!" she couldn't help but let out, jumping almost an entire foot into the air before crashing back down onto Marza's lap.

"… Yeah, and that's how I learned her species name. For some weird reason, she can only say her own species' name's syllables. Doesn't mean that she can't write, though; I'm teaching her how to right now, as a matter of fact. She's already mastered the alphabet, so she should be able to talk to you via writing soon enough. Trust me when I say that she's a _very_ quick learner."

At this point, Erise and Julius simply figured that they would have to get used to strange and impossible notions, such as a four-day-old alien learning the complete English alphabet. Needless to say, that was a brilliant idea on their part, especially since the strangeness surrounding Oscura's arrival was only just beginning to unravel itself…


	9. Chapter Eight: Assurance

_Author_ ' _s_ _Note_ :

… No comments (aside from my profuse apologies, both for the short chapter and the long wait). Here be shout-outs, instead!

Thank you again, calicat197, follow, as well as joycewu333 for the Favorite and _especially_ that second Review. " _Raising_ cities to the ground"? Heh. Sounds rather contradictory, don'cha think? I've fixed that little error, so, again, many thanks.

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Eight: Assurance

* * *

A filling dinner was ate an hour and a half after the Guardia family's not-so-little talk. Marza eventually asked her parents why they had not punished her for her secrecy, and their response was really quite simple:

"We don't think that you did anything truly wrong. Heck, if the situation were reversed, with us finding Oscura first rather than you, we're fairly certain that we would've attempted to keep her a secret from you, as well."

"… Well, still, I suppose that I must thank you for not punishing me regardless of that fact."

The two waved it off, with Erise saying, "If you really _do_ want a punishment, I think that keeping Oscura occupied, nourished, and hidden from others all simultaneously ought to count as one. Speaking of nourishment, I think that she's asking for food…"

And indeed she was. The Larvitar was gazing up at Marza with a pair of startlingly large puppy eyes, as if begging for attention; or, in this case, sustenance. Marza gasped for three reasons: her forgetfulness that Oscura had apparently been doing quite a lot of running as of late; her additional forgetfulness, as she had not been given food since this morning; and, _of course_ , the raw, unadulterated cuteness that was Oscura, especially at that particular moment.

"Alright, alright! I'll go get your food! No need to knock me unconscious with that face of yours!" Julius and Erise chuckled mildly as she got up end exited the house, and she returned a few moments later, the rocks in her pockets and hands being deposited onto a plastic plate for Oscura to consume.

And consume she did, and with an amount of _gusto_ that bordered on unreal. The raven-haired girl's parents watched on in fascination as the alien tyke tore into her food, clearing several pounds' worth of stones in just over a minute.

"Woah! Oscura must have one wacky digestive system to handle all of that food at such a rapid rate, and to even _process_ that stuff to begin with!" Julius said, voice filled with incredulity. Marza couldn't help but chuckle at this.

"One can only _begin_ to imagine what other kinds of creatures Arceus' world hosts, especially considering the fact that Oscura is apparently quite small." Said Pokémon shifted her gaze from the now-empty plate to the direction of the three humans.

All things considered, Oscura could have quite the scary face when she wanted. The three humans couldn't help but be unexplainably frozen stiff at it.

"Geez, Oscura, I was just kidding! I'm not sure _how_ you're making yourself look so frightening, but _please_ stop!" Marza said, thoroughly unnerved by the Rock Skin Pokémon's glare. Oscura finally let up on her gaze, turning her head away a bit guiltily. Julius and Erise sighed in relief at the release of the inexplicable pressure from Oscura, though Marza did so for an entirely different reason.

"Sorry, Oscura, just… don't do that again, okay?" She nodded, once again guiltily. A second sigh left the lass' mouth. "Well, I think that we're done here. Oscura and I are going to go upstairs and relax." She got up from her seat and deposited her dirtied dishes, as well as Oscura's, into the sink before doing just that.

A few minutes later, Marza was on her bed, Oscura lying next to her, going over on the spelling of various words. "No, no, it's spelled with a T, _then_ an H! There's not an S in there, either!" Marza was beginning to feel a bit frustrated; she know that English was one of the trickiest languages in the world to master, but Oscura was already familiar enough with it enough to understand it! ' _Surely_ , _learning its written counterpart_ _shouldn_ ' _t be too hard as a result_!'

… Was what she was thinking as they started, but by this point, she was more than certain that this would be significantly more difficult than she had first thought. Marza let out another sigh. "I think that we'll be stopping here for now. I guess that I should probably start you off with more basic words than the ones you're attempting right now, huh?"

Oscura huffed before letting out a small "Lar…" of agreement. Marza put the letters away in their box before instead retrieving the collection of letters it hosted, laying them out as flat as possible on the bed. Age had not been kind to the thin plastic objects; they were bent awkwardly in some places, and had these smudges on them that remained no matter how much they were cleansed. They were still definitely recognizable as numbers, however, and they thusly remained usable.

"Time for some mathematics next. Figure this equation out first, Oscura…"

Another hour passed, at the end of which Marza put the box itself, as well as its contents, back on the shelf. A solid two minutes of comfortable silence reigned until Marza ended it, wherein she asked of Oscrua: "Want to pick up where we left off on your learning of the computer?" The little Larvitar nodded. ' _Not like there_ ' _s much else to do in this house to begin with_ …' she thought, a tad despondently.

A tutorial on the differences of the functions of the left and right mouse buttons and the importance of turning the PC off when done with it later, and the two decided to call it a night. Once they snuggled in to sleep, Marza reached over to the night light on her night stand, turning it off. A number of minutes later, and Oscura was sound asleep – or, at least, she _would_ be, were it not for the little grunts and sniffles she was making.

' _Hmm_ …?' The girl flipped the covers off of her and Oscura, and was shocked to find her clinging to her stomach, small tears streaming from her eyes. ' _Is she_ … crying?' She realized the likely cause in mere moments. ' _It_ ' _s probably a nightmare_ … _Probably about her alternate self_ … _Maybe I should_ ' _ve sent her away before explaining my dream to Mom and Dad_ …' She gently grabbed the Rock Skin Pokémon, letting her nuzzle into her sternum for comfort. Oscura shuddered a few more times before falling still, a content exhale leaving her a second or two afterwards. Marza, too, fell into a peaceful slumber, a smile not too dissimilar to the one now on Oscura's features gracing her face…

* * *

Cue music – _Xenoblade Chronicles_ soundtrack – _Uneasiness_

"Milord Arceus! I bring important news!"

Arceus opened its eyes, a small amount of irritation entering its systems at the interruption of its (hopefully daily) meditation. " _Speak_ , _then_ , _Palkia_. _What might the matter be this time_? _Has another issue cropped up with Oscura_?"

The Spatial Pokémon's brows rose. "… Oscura, Arcues? Who is it that you speak of?"

" _Ah_ , _apologies_. _You see_ , _the egg that we sent to that other dimension thatched into a Larvitar_. _It_ – _or_ , _rather_ , she – _has since come into contact with a young human girl by the name of Marza_. _Marza bestowed upon the Larvitar the name_ " _Oscura_ " _the morning they first truly met_."

"But, Milord! Are you certain that a _human_ can simply be trusted like that, especially in a circumstance such as this!?"

The creator of the Pokémon World's eyes flashed for a moment in anger. " _Fie_ , _Palkia_! _Must your prejudice of the humans affect your every move involving them_!? _Those humans from long ago may have sealed me here_ , _but that hardly means that they as a species are all evil_ , _let alone that a child from an_ alternate dimension _is_ , _as well_!"

The pink-on-white Pokémon hung his head in shame at his master's declaration. "I suppose not… But that issue is beside my point, at least for the moment. Something is attempting to breach the dimensional barrier of this world."

" _Oh_? _Pray tell what you can make of it_ ," he requested, sounding concerned of this apparent anomaly.

"Like with my sibling's visions, I can only tell so much from the few times I have been able to sense it. What I _can_ discern, however, is that it is a dark and mighty force, especially so on that second point, seeing as how it is capable of _crossing dimensions_. Something feels… _off_ about it, however." Arceus' brows raised, prompting him to elaborate. "It's almost as if it is attempting to cross into our plane of existence with no real purpose in mind. Even with constant re-enforcements of the barrier from me, I feel as if it would be able to come here with little issue. For all I know, it could've been back in our actual world at this very moment, and yet it has refrained from doing so for some unknown reason."

Arceus hummed in curiosity at this. "I can sense that this entity is intentionally being sluggish in its journey, and making its entry point as small as possible, as if attempting to keep the damage resulting from the dimensional rupture as minimalistic as possible. Mayhaps this being is attempting to lie low and keep itself out of our sights by being as inconspicuous as possible?"

Arceus shook its head at Palkia's guess. " _I do not believe that to be the case_ , _my child_. _If it is so dark of presence_ , _then why would it take this seemingly pointless course of actions_? _An evil so powerful to be capable of crossing the barriers between the dimensions would likely not feel the need to be conspicuous if it could likely take down anything it could come across_ , _so why_ …?" Another head shake.

" _But_ , _alas_ , _it is as you have said_. _If you cannot discern much_ , _than I cannot_ , _either_. _There is nothing to be done at the moment but to continue to monitor it_ , _and I request that you would do so with the utmost amount of caution_. _No one knows what it is truly capable of or what its intents are_ , _so avoid direct contact if possible_."

Palkia bowed, putting an arm over his chest. "Your will shall be done, Milord. If you would allow my leave, I shall resume my watch over this anomaly." A nod from his lord later, and he left to do his master's bidding.

When it was certain that his child had left, the god-like Pokémon resumed its meditation, though its thoughts were now plagued with worry. ' _I simply hope that this new situation does not get out of hand_ , _or result in a cataclysm like the earlier one may have_ …'


	10. Chapter Nine: The Enigma

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

First off… You cannot even _begin_ to imagine how grateful I am for that Review, SorcererTech. It was… rather insightful. On the front of characterization, don't you fret; the characters will be expanded upon, especially our human protagonist.

Hardship is said to build character, after all. Heh, heh, heh…

Foreshadowing aside, however, I feel I must present to you a fun fact: she is based ever so slightly upon me. We share the same mental "disability", you see.

That _also_ aside, the reason I'm apparently not being quite as good as I could be as giving life to my characters is that I'm attempting to maintain a fragile balance between realistic and over-the-top reactions from them. I find that, across media, a great many characters tend to be note-worthy only because of their huge, attention-grabbing quirks, be it on a physical or mental level.

What I am doing is trying my hand at creating a (relatively) _normal_ girl and telling a story relating her, a Pokémon from another dimension, and the events therein; not some forgetful child whose ability to memorize even the most basic of information is sorely lacking, or some other broody, whiny teenager who thinks he/she's invincible and always standing on a pedestal due to his/her "rough" past.

Our mysterious entity, on the other hand, is about as far from normal as one can hope to get… Whoops! No spoilers!

Besides, the story's going to be picking up a few chapters from now. You may or may not be able to correctly predict where the plot is going to be going…

Lastly, at the end of this _really_ long Author's Note, I give my shout-outs to Quagsire12 for the Favorite and the Follow, and to the aforementioned SorcererTech for the additional Favorite and Follow. Seriously, this right here is humbling!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Nine: The Enigma

* * *

Marza and Oscura were woken up that morning not by their own internal clocks, but, rather, the somewhat urgent shaking of the human girl's dad. "Marza? Would you mind getting up? There's going to be some urgent news playing on television shortly, and I think that you may want to watch it."

The lass grumbled for a few seconds. "… Fine. What time is it, by the way?"

A quick glance at the clock from her father. "Just past six thirty. A bit earlier than usual, I know, but I think that this ought to be worth your time and attention." With another grumble, Marza rose from her position on the bed, gently laying the still-sleeping Oscura down next to her as she did so. The father-daughter pair headed downstairs, wherein Marza saw Erise staring worriedly at the screen of the TV, chin resting upon her knuckles. She gestured them over to the couch, not even bothering to look in their direction.

Marza stared at the television screen in rapt attention. It would seem as if it was just getting to the part that her parents wanted her to watch, if the slightly urgent tone in the news man's tone was anything to go by.

"Just last night, a teenager – a young man of around fifteen who refused to give his name, the authorities have said – had escaped the local juvenile detention center. The camera located in his room apparently glitched out and went offline for approximately an hour, and when it came back online, he was no longer in his room. No one knows how he did it; no holes could be found in the cell he inhabited, none of the people in the neighboring cells reported anything of note, even with threats for further time in the center in the face of dishonesty, and close inspection of the door of the room reveals that it had not been opened during the night.

"For those wondering, he was sentenced to half a year in the detention center for beating a woman to near-death eleven days ago. It should be noted, however, that upon further investigation, said woman had been beating her own son as of late, and that the child – he prefers to remain anonymous – testified that this person had come running into their house, stopping her from abusing him again. After recovering, this is the story that he told:"

A young-looking lad stepped up to the screen, appearing nervous. Marza was surprised that he managed to keep his voice so even throughout his little speech, in fact. "The whole thing was so scary… Mommy was angry and screaming at me, but then the guy when he came in… Mom started yelling at him, too, but the next thing I knew, she was on the floor, screaming as he punched and kicked her… He had this frown when he did it, too, as if he had some sort of hatred or grudge against her. He walked out a little bit later, but not before he gave me this… weird _stare_.

"I swear, his eyes were _glowing_ _red_ in the dark. It's like he was looking straight at my soul or something… I called 911 after that, and I think you know where that went from there…"

The boy hurried off-screen as the man resumed his news cast. "Thank you for your time, Anonymous. Anyone that sees is this person is urged to call the authorities and not confront him, as it is very likely that he is dangerous. In other news, there has been a blockage on Route Twelve…"

Erise sighed worriedly, with Julius putting a comforting arm around her. "Marza, our town isn't exactly the biggest, so do as the news has told you and avoid him if you happen to come by him."

"I doubt that I actually _will_ encounter him, but, yes, I definitely will if I happen to get unlucky enough for that to happen." The two nodded, pleased. Disproportionally loud sounds were let out as Oscura descended the stairwell. She had evidently heard the news, and glanced up at Marza in uneasiness. The girl picked her up, rubbing her head in a comforting manner. "Don't worry. I don't think he'd come to this place – what reason would that guy have to in the first place?" The green-colored Pokémon stared at her for several minutes, her features giving her the message, " _Really_?"

"Okay, fine, he would have a _very good_ reason to come here, but how could he possibly know about you?" Her second attempt succeeded in giving the Pokémon solace, and she relaxed, in only a little. "Well, we've still got around fifty minutes before I've got to get my things together for school, so I'm going to go back to bed and rest my eyes for a bit." Oscura gave a small grunt of agreement, and the two went back upstairs, their parents giving the pair a worried glance.

As Marza opened her door, she mumbled, in a curious tone: "Glowing red eyes, huh? Strange... Maybe the boy was hallucinating in his panic?" She shook her head. There wasn't anything she could do about it besides hope to avoid an encounter, so what was the point of continuing that train of thought?

Once Marza's parents head the door to her room click shut, they re-initiated the conversation. "I think that she dismisses this person as a threat a bit too readily, Julius, especially considering how small of a town this is. I just hope that this young man has moved on from this place, and if he hasn't… well, I suppose that we'll just have to hope that luck is on her side, as our child has already said."

Her spouse gave her a few comforting pats on the back. "Mm. Well, I suppose that we'd better get ready for work, honey. We've both got a busier day than average ahead of us, if I remember of schedules correctly."

"Indeed we do, hun'," she said, turning the TV off with a lazy flick of a remote switch. The screen flickered off accordingly, and the couple went to their room, prepping for their day jobs…

* * *

Cue music – _Xenoblade Chronicles_ soundtrack – _Gigantic Silhouette_

Arceus could feel… _something_ approaching his pocket dimension. It was fairly certain what it was, actually; that dark force that Palkia had discussed with him just yesterday. And if it could feel it from across the expanses of the dimensional barrier, it gave him a rather immense cause for concern. ' _Just how powerful_ is _this entity for me to feel it from so far away_ …?' he pondered, slowly becoming more and more worried.

"Milord Arceus! The entity has changed its course, and is now heading to this space! What do you propose we do about this?" inquired the Spatial Pokémon as he entered in a flash of pink.

Arceus entered a pensive silence. " _Well_ , _first off_ , _I need to know how much longer it shall take for this being to reach me_. _Luckily and conveniently_ …" A blue portal opened, with the time deity flying out of it second later. "Arceus! Some entity is–!"

" _Approaching this place fast_ , _yes_. _Palkia has already told me about it_ ," Arceus cut off, seeming a bit stressed and unwilling to let her finish her sentence. ' _Time is of the essence_!' The Temporal Pokémon looked displeased at being beat to the punch, though she was forced to brush her rivalry with Palkia aside for the moment.

" _As I was just saying before_ , _I need an approximation of when the being will make it to this dimension_. _If you would both work_ in tandem _for once_ , _it would be appreciated_." The siblings glared at each other for a couple seconds before sighing resignedly. They drew a few steps' worth of space closer before shutting their eyes, concentrating fiercely.

Another few seconds passed before they accomplished their task. "I would give the being another day and a half at most," Dialga spoke, also appearing worried. "What should we do? Prepare to combat this being?"

The god-like Pokémon closed its eyes for a moment. " _I suppose that we have no choice_. _Yes_ , _we had best do so_ , _just to be safe_ …"


	11. Chapter Ten: The Enveloping Darkness

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Shout-outs to Klingkan and Theblazeingtiger for the Follows, as well as to 21X and V1DEOGAMER for both the Follow _and_ Favorite!

… _Man_ , I _really_ need to come up with more stuff to say here…

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Ten: The Enveloping Darkness

* * *

Marza was once again on her way home from the building that paid host to her primary education source, idly whistling some tune or other as she read the pages necessary for her homework. _A Deeper Delve into the Mind and Soul_ was the title, to which Marza found a touch of mirth at. ' _Sounds like some sort of monk_ - _in_ - _training_ ' _s first book_ ,' she bemusedly thought, despite the fact that she actually found it to be quite an interesting read. She was about to turn to the next page when she noticed that her house was but a few seconds' worth of driving distance away, and she closed the hard-covered book with a small sigh. ' _Time seems to just fly by when you_ ' _re having a good time_ …'

She clambered between the mess of legs and bags as she walked towards the entrance-exit door of the bus, tripping when a girl stuck her leg out in what was clearly an intentional manner. Marza barely caught herself, with both hands chafing painfully against the segmented and sharp surface of the bus' isle flooring. A small grunt of anguish left her as she got herself up, and the sapphire-eyed girl checked her hands. She was frustrated to find that there was a cut on each hand, and that they were already starting to bleed.

She shot the girl responsible for this slight a harsh glare, clenching her mildly wounded hands tightly before resuming her walk to the exit. The lass appeared only somewhat perturbed by Marza's stare, as she shrugged it off with a chuckle and a few whispered words to her friends. The blue-eyed girl just sighed and shook her head at this, taking the bandages kindly offered to her by the bus driver and applying them before she walked into her house.

Erise opened her mouth to ask the obligatory daily question, but Marza cut her off, voice sounding slightly irritated. "Before you ask, my day went decently enough, except for the way here on the bus. Some girl decided she wanted to see me trip and fall, so she stuck her leg out and made me do so." She presented her bandaged hands to her mother. "It was roughly three minutes ago when I decided that I no longer like sitting near the back…" Her mother appeared indignant at this series of events.

"Did they get a berating for their misdeed? _Please_ tell me they did."

"No, loathe am I to admit that they didn't. The bus driver doesn't really like to keep the other kids waiting, and even _he_ acknowledges that their obnoxiousness grows even more when they get impatient. I _did_ shoot her a glare, though, and I think I frightened her a bit." Erise sighed.

"Well, I suppose that that's about as much as you can do in that situation, besides walking over and giving her a slap to the face." Marza hummed in agreement. The door opened as the sapphire-eyed lass was grabbing her snack, revealing her father to be the one who walked in. Julius spotted her daughter's bandaged hands, and his eyes widened in worry. "Marza! What happened to your hands?"

She regaled her short tale to him; Oscura came down the stairs, likely hearing Marza's voice and coming down to check if it was really her. The Larvitar paced over to her just as she finished talking, gazing up at Marza expectedly. The girl promptly picked the little alien up, noting that she was beginning to get a bit heavier. "A fast grower, aren't you? I swear, you gain at _least_ three pounds every day…" The Pokémon didn't really mind her words; it was the truth, after all.

Julius once again spoke: "Are you going to report it to the school tomorrow? Because I believe that that would be wise of you, especially if you want to avoid such things from happening again."

"I probably will, yes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some reading to do." A pointed glance from Oscura. "And _yes_ , you can use the computer. Not before some education, though!" Oscura gave a sigh of her own at this. Learning is certainly fun in a sense, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't get dull after so many hours of it!

* * *

Cue music – _Fire Emblem Awakening_ soundtrack – _Monstrosity_ ( _Intro_ )

"Milord… The being draws close. I would give at approximately two more minutes, if even that. Are you _certain_ that you wish to get involved in this potential battle?" inquired the time deity worriedly.

" _Mmm_. _You two_ , _of all of my creations_ , _ought to know that I shall not back down when it comes to a potential threat to my realm and children_. _If_ _I perish_ , _then I shall gladly do so if it means protecting all of you_."

"Milord…" the siblings said synchronously, touched by their creator's care for them. Unfortunately, however, they didn't have the time to continue strengthening their familiar bonds; the entire realm suddenly shook fiercely, as if it were experiencing some inexplicable earthquake.

" _It would seem that the entity is nearly here_ … _Palkia_! _Dialga_! _Ready yourselves_! _This just may be the fight of our lives_!"

The space continued to shake for a few more seconds until all went unexpectedly quiet. All was perfectly still for a short while, even the three god-like Pokémon, until the edges of the compact world began to turn a bloody red. They then went black before shattering in a manner not too dissimilar to glass, the loose fragments of the barrier of the world shrinking before dissipating entirely.

A few moment later, and the enigmatic entity flew in, finally revealing itself.

The thing was… simply _inexplicable_. It was shrouded in a veil of black and red, and its raw, unadulterated power literally _radiated_ off of it.

The only features that the creator of the World of Pokémon could discern from it were its piercing ruby eyes.

It slowly began to float towards Arceus, its eyes trained on it and it alone.

Palkia and Dialga moved in its way, the time deity inhaling sharply and the space deity orienting an arm behind him, prepping their signature moves in an attempt to stop the veiled entity, but the being brushed them both aside before they had the opportunity to launch their attacks with a wave of red-tinged darkness. The Temporal and Spatial Pokémon growled in pain before their eyes abruptly closed in unconsciousness, red, electric-like arcs of energy occasionally sparking from the twos' bodies. Arceus would likely be grimacing if it were possible for it to do so; ' _If it can incapacitate those two so easily_ – simultaneously, _no less_ – _than this likely does_ not _bode well for anyone_ …' The Alpha Pokémon moved over to stand between it and its first children, glaring at the being harshly.

" _If you want to get to my children_ , _then you must go through me first_ , _craven fool_!"

The being's eyes glittered in… was that _respect_ that Arceus noticed? Arceus brushed the thought aside as he began charging his most powerful attack, angling his head to point upward, a small ball of pure, concentrated energy slowly growing bigger. The thing seemed to simply ignore the growing threat as it drew closer. Just as the being reached the threshold of becoming dangerously close, Arceus unleashed its strongest attack: Judgement. The ball of energy exploded into white lines of pure, destructive energy, which flew up and then came crashing down not a second later, all of them homing in directly on the entity.

They exploded violently around the entity, bathing it in a brilliant white glow. As the hundreds of moderately sized explosions ensued, Arceus created a small, artificial platform for it to kneel upon. Normally, it would be able to execute a relatively large number of attacks of this caliber before even _beginning_ to grow exhausted, but in its de-powered state, it found that firing off even a single Judgement was rather taxing.

As its attack subsided, Arceus noted that the being was nowhere to be seen, and it couldn't sense the being any longer. It sighed in heavy relief. ' _The threat has been dealt with_ , _it would seem_ …' Taking a deep breath, it stood upon all fours again, rendering the temporary flooring beneath it destroyed before flying closer to its children in concern.

The attack of the entity was still affecting them; their eyes closed shut, twitching occasionally, and the arcing electricity was still present. Arceus tapped one of the more consistent spots of the red energy before drawing back almost immediately, hissing in pain. It looked down at the tip of the limb before humming in curiosity. ' _It hurts quite a bit to touch_ , _yet apparently leaves no wounds_ …? What, _precisely_ , is _this strange energy_ …?'

Before it could attempt to investigate further, however, Arceus felt a malevolent presence just behind it. Its eyes widened, recognizing what it was immediately, and hastily turned around.

Indeed, the being was still very much kicking; it appeared to be entirely unscathed, in fact. The Alpha Pokémon mentally gasped. "… _How did you_ …?" it mumbled, very clearly flabbergasted. The being merely resumed its floating towards the godly Pokémon, though its speed was very clearly faster than before. It took but a few seconds for it to reach Arceus, with the latter cringing away as they came face-to-face.

"… _If I surrender myself_ , _will you spare my children and their world_?" asked Arceus, acknowledging that it was very clearly out-classed, at least in its current state. The being gazed upon him for a few seconds before a shockingly young, evidently male voice responded:

"You needn't even surrender. I am not after your creations or your world. I am after three relatively simple things, all of which you shall discover eventually." An arm, pale in skin and clothed in white, reached out for his head. Arceus once again attempted to cringe away, but found himself incapable of the simple action. Small tendrils of the energy lashed out from the field of energy surrounding the being, restricting its movement quite thoroughly. The rope-like tendrils felt like they burned to the touch, even though Arceus knew that they didn't truly inflict any injuries.

"I am sorry for this, but I am afraid that this must be done for everyone's sakes, if not mine…"

The being's hand finally reached Arceus' head, and all went black for the Pokémon…


	12. Chapter Eleven: The Unknowing Darkness

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Thank you, dunstann, for the Follow and Favorite, as well as to joe lama 102 for the Favorite.

… Aside from that, though? Insert cricket chirping sound effects here, I guess…?

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Eleven: The Unknowing Darkness

* * *

Cue music – _Xenoblade Chronicles_ soundtrack – _Gigantic Silhouette_

"Well, there's this world's gods subdued, as well as his… her… _its_ apparent children, and thusly down goes this mysterious façade of mine with them. Really, _what_ is this thing's gender?" The being scratched at its unruly black hair inside of the veil that it created, dispelling it a moment later. "I even forgot to ask what its name was! Gods above and below, I need to learn to exercise more proper etiquette, especially considering how old I am getting to be…!"

He gave a drawn-out sigh. "Well, that doesn't particularly affect what comes next, as well what transpires beyond that. I would _hope_ so, at least." The ruby-eyed being floated over to the two lesser gods, reaching an arm out to their heads like he had done with the other Pokémon. "I may be overly paranoid for doing this, but if it's for the sake of the safety of everyone, then I am afraid that it must be done…" Little crimson arcs of energy flew from his hand to the twos' heads, and they shuddered as the energy invaded their minds – more specifically, their memories.

"… My, what a pleasant surprise! Gods that _haven_ ' _t_ wrought any huge atrocities themselves _for once_. I suppose that you two can be left alone, then, at least for now. Oh, but what's this…?" Images of a little green egg and a bright pink portal entered his mind, and his eyes widened in curiosity. A few more seconds passed as his mind flew through Palkia and Dialga' collective memories, and his eyes widened. "… Oh, me oh my! You three are evidently more than just indifferent gods; you're _caring_ ones! Yes, I shall certainly not intrude upon your minds; it would be equal parts pointless and callous… This egg, though… it has left me curious. Mayhaps I should investigate this issue…"

A metaphorical light bulb went off above his head. "Ah, but before that, I still need to investigate the creator's mind. The greatest of gods can sow the greatest of monstrous deeds, after all…" Another second or so of floating later, and he was again reaching a hand to the equine-like deity's head. A decently long while passed as he sifted through its memories, being careful not to wound its all-too fragile mind. "… Mmh. Yes, you are all definitely worth my respect. Not that that is particularly saying a lot, but…" A loud sigh left the being's mouth.

"Again, however, I must apologize for this next part…" The hand, rather than remain a small distance away from its head, closed the gap, making physical contact with Arceus' forehead. It began to growl in discomfort as the being delved deeper into its mind before all thoughts from both parties temporarily ceased. All perspective of time faded from the enigmatic entity as he did what he came to do.

A small seed was planted in the Alpha Pokémon's head at that moment. And oh, _how it would grow_ …

The being backed off when his deed was done, sighing regretfully. "Once again, my apologies, but this was completely necessary. It may just be my paranoia, but it must be done regardless…"

He turned away from the godly Pokémon, putting a hand to his oddly pointy chin and rubbing it. "Now, what might be going on with that egg from earlier…?"

"… It is also right about now, in this near-complete silence, that I realize just how much I talk to myself…" Another sigh.

* * *

As Marza and her "pet" Larvitar cuddled each other in the human girl's bed, the larger of the two couldn't help but feel… inexplicably _anxious_. It was almost as if she subconsciously knew that she was being watched. Now that she thought about it a bit more thoroughly, it wasn't too dissimilar of a feeling to the morning before she met Arceus in her dreams. In fact, now that she thought about it even _further_ , that was probably why she felt that way in the first place that morning; it was probably attempting to get into her dreams the previous night.

And if her suspicions were correct…

"Hey, Oscura… Do you feel like something's… I don't know, _off_?" The alien tyke gave a small shake of the head. "Because I do. I just hope that it's Arceus again, and not someone else…" Oscura didn't really appear to comprehend the other female's worry, snuggling up to her face in an attempt to alleviate her worries. Marza couldn't help but giggle at her show of affection, giving the Pokémon a head-rubbing in return. "Maybe it's just me. I _hope_ it's just me, actually…" The lass drew the blankets a bit tighter around them, giving a gentle yawn as she drifted off to sleep a couple of minutes later, Oscura doing the same just afterward…

* * *

"Hello there, girl."

An unfamiliar voice reached out to her ears, and her eyes flew open. She immediately recognized this as a dream due to the strange, mildly hypnotic backdrop, but something felt inexplicably different from the previous time she was here – or, at least that she could remember. There was a few scattered splotches of red and black, a fair distance away. She acknowledged that red was a color normally found – at least, that she knew of – but black? That _definitely_ wasn't normal.

"Hello, girl? Can you hear me?"

She swiftly turned around, curious as to where the unfamiliar voice was coming from, as well as _who_.

She couldn't really make out the features of the evidently male being, what with his shroud of crimson and black around him, but she could _definitely_ tell that he had red eyes. They were _glowing_ in the darkness that was being generated around him, so that specific feature was made rather obvious.

"Oh, good. I was beginning to wonder if I would have to get over there and turn you around myself." He slowly began to draw closer. "Apologies ahead of time if I appear menacing – or, as some of the younger sort like to call me – _spooky_ to you." He cleared his throat, or at least made a sound similar too it. "Regardless of that fact, I would ask of your name, lass."

His accent was strange and unfamiliar, and his way of speaking was also certainly a bit unusual. It took her a few moments to get over his appearance and mannerisms before answering: "Um. I'm Marza Guardia. And you are…?"

"I shall refrain from telling you. Do you want to know why I am not giving you the common courtesy?" Marza opened her mouth to reply, but he didn't give her the chance to actually say anything. "Because, although I now know your name, you are still ultimately a stranger to me. Thusly, I shall tell you my name later, if I even do to begin with."

An uncomfortable silence permeated the dream space for a few seconds. Then, "… Okay? You apparently don't want to tell me your name, but I bet that you want to tell me why you're here!" An accusatory finger was now pointed at where Marza thought the man's voice was coming from.

"Oh? How _ever_ did you guess, lass?"

Marza felt tempted to chuckle. "Well, this kind of thing has been happening startlingly often as of late. Twice, in fact, which, I'll have you know, is _two times too many_. The previous person who came along and into my dreams told me why it was here before doing anything else, introductions aside. I assume that you'll be doing the same?"

The being's eyes widened, if only slightly. A small laugh escaped him as he responded, "Why, yes, I will be. Not before I remark on you quick tongue, however. I do appreciate an intelligent conversation, however scathing the reciprocator of it may be and however young the person I may be talking to is. Gods knows how many brutes and old evil people I've encountered throughout my years…" That last part was muttered, though Marza still picked up on it due to either her enhanced hearing, or because of the fact that dreams were decidedly _really_ _weird_.

"Gods? As in, _plural_? And old evil people? What, do you live in a fairy tale world or some such?"

Another brief bout of chuckling. "Ha, ha… From your perspective, my home may indeed seem as such. A shame you'll likely never get to see it; it has some rather magnificent vistas, you know."

Marza gave a disinterested hum. "Yes, well, I believe that we're getting off track. About your reasons for invading my dreams…?"

A slightly livelier chortle left his mouth, if he did indeed have one. "Ah, yes, apologies. I really just came here to investigate an anomalous occurrence I came by. It involved a green and red egg, and its teleportation to – if I am not mistaken – your home." Marza gasped quietly.

' _How did he_ …?'

"And before you ask, you could say that a giant, equine god of a bird told me, and that its words _definitely_ did not originate from the winds."

"Arceus…? What did you do to it!?"

At this point, the being acknowledged that his chuckling was getting rather repetitive, so he instead opted to get straight to the point: "Arceus? So that's its name? Hmm. Well, it's nothing that ought to concern you, especially considering Arceus' location in space and _possibly_ time relative to yours. And as for why I am here? Well, it turns out that gods of space sending the young of their world to another is really quite unusual, even by my standards. I was merely curious as to how it was doing, really. Would you care to answer my inquiry?"

Marza felt concerned about what this person had done to the Alpha Pokémon, but decided that she had more immediate concerns – namely, the enigmatic being in front of her dream-self. "And if I decide I don't want to answer?"

"Heh. I _would_ say that we'd be at an impasse, but I request that you trust me when I say that I can do a _lot_ to a person's mind…" His eyes narrowed in a threatening manner, then unexpectedly went back to a normal shape. He proceeded to exhale softly.

"And there I go again, acting all menacing. I apologize; my nature, both in personality and being, makes me confrontational about most things. You've no idea what I've been through in my earlier years…"

' _Earlier years_ …? _He sounds no older than sixteen_! _And does he have mood swings all the time_ …?' Marza thought. "… You're forgiven, I suppose?" She next settled on answering his last question. ' _May as well be nice_ ; _he politely apologized_ …' "And to answer your question, the egg hatched into Oscura, a small, green-skinned alien with this big horn on her head. I love her... quite a bit, I think." It took her a second to re-process what she had just said. '… _Did I just say_ love?'

Marza then realized that, _yes_ , she loved Oscura quite dearly, despite not even knowing her for a week.

' _Huh_. _I suppose that I_ do _love her_ , _huh_?' She internally chuckled for a few moments at this revelation.

The being's eyes glowed a few hues brighter; he was evidently pleased at this information. "Ah. Good. Love is almost never a bad thing, after all." The glowing, stardust-like fields of energy suddenly began to blink violently before collapsing one by one. The being looked around momentarily, taking in this series of occurrences, before stating to her:

"I believe that your dream is collapsing, Marza, which means that you are about to wake up. A shame, too; I was just beginning to get to know you…" The being's veil of darkness also began to shimmer, flickering and disappearing for a split second in a few places, though the only instance of this that lasted long enough for Marza to discern anything of his features happened, coincidentally enough, on where his head apparently was.

All that she was before everything once again went black was the pale skin, crimson eyes, and black hair with two small, white bangs falling in front of his face, concealing his ears. His oddly pointed chin was where the hole in the veil ended. Her guess at his apparent age proved to be correct; his face belonged to someone no older than a teenager.

His eyes widened, as did his mouth, likely realizing that the girl had now truly seen him, before everything went dark for the girl, a rather distinctive sense of déjà cu creeping up on her as the dream realm once again collapsed…


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Searching Darkness

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

My gratitude to BlazinVoid, shadowmwape, and BuizelKing01 for the Follow and the Favorite, as well as to Firespark15 for the former. Your attention gives me just the drive I need to continue this thing!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Twelve: The Searching Darkness

* * *

Marza roused quite slowly considering what she had just encountered in her unconsciousness, only propping her torso upright after several minutes of shifting around underneath her sheets. Rubbing at her cloudy eyes, she stifled a yawn in an attempt to keep quiet, as Oscura was still sleeping tranquility next to her. ' _I_ still _can_ ' _t get over her unadulterated cuteness_. _To be honest with myself_ , _I_ ' _m kind of on the fence about how to feel when she_ _grows out of this phase of her life_ , _assuming that her kind does so_.'

Shuffling out of the bed, the young girl stretched, feeling her joints briefly light up in pain before relaxing almost immediately afterwards. A sharp exhale left her throat as she finished, and she plumped down on the edge of the bed. ' _Well_ , _that probably won_ ' _t be the last that I see of that mysterious person_. _If anything_ , _I_ ' _m kind of curious about him_ …' Her eyes widened momentarily in remembrance. ' _And what he did to Arceus_! Shoot, _I forgot that he_ ' _s probably not exactly a good guy_!' A sigh. ' _Well_ , _not really a whole lot I can do about it now_. _Not until tonight_ , _at least_ , _and that_ ' _s making the unlikely assumption that he_ ' _ll even come to me again_. _And what was up with that face of his_? _He was almost as pale as a sheet of blank paper_! _Those red eyes and weird hair_ , _too_ …'

She eventually came to the following conclusion: ' _I would imagine that he_ ' _s not human_ , _if not because of his features_ , _then definitely because of his_ … _well_ , whatever it was _that was surrounding him_. _A Pokémon_ , _maybe_ …?' A dismissive shake of the head. ' _Again_ , _best not to think too hard on something you can_ ' _t help_. _I_ ' _ve got things to be doing_ , _anyways_ …'

She hopped off the bed again, lazily opening the door and marching to the bathroom to begin her morning routine, as well as what come after…

* * *

Cue music – _Fire Emblem Awakening_ soundtrack – _"Someone has to save you from your good intentions_."

The crimson-eyed being's eyes opened as he regained consciousness, and he gave a small hum of thought before speaking to no one in particular: "… An interesting lass, that Marza. I may want to keep an eye on her, if not because of her decidedly curious nature than certainly because of the fact that she might be capable of aiding me in my cause. For now, however, I've preparations to make and much to plan for. Let's see, here…"

His hands, now cloaked in a starkly contrasting black to his ashen skin tone, gripped at seemingly nothing before he _tore a_ _hole in space_ - _time_ , an image making itself apparent. It depicted a great, large world, featuring fast, bright blue oceans, expansive tracts of luscious green land, and ice-tipped polar caps to the very-most north and south. "My, what a beautiful world! These gods ought to get a reward for their creativity or some such. In fact, methinks that they deserve far more! Of, but I am getting off-track. What of the inhabitants…?"

He gave the tear in reality a small swipe, as if it were a touch screen on a device of some sort, and it dramatically zoomed in to one of the continents closer to the planet's equator. The scene or showed to the entity proved to be an odd one, yet also undeniably magnificent: unfamiliar species of what were seemingly birds were flying through the air clear, morning air. What was unmistakably a sunrise could easily be spotted on the horizon, casting the woods and its occupants in a deep orange glow. Speaking of the latter, the seemingly young man proceeded to swipe at the tear again, zooming in even more.

Little caterpillar-like animals scurried around in the bushed and trees. Some were busy hunting, and other were seemingly in nests, raising families small and large. The being immediately recognized the bipedal beings as humans, and he observed them frolicking around, as well as the little monster-like creatures that accompanied them. He eventually came by a rather peculiar scene: a human, a young man by the looks of him, was seemingly commanding a relatively small monster into attacking another. A few other humans were standing off to the side, watching the fight play out in anticipation.

After several continuous minutes of battle, the monster not being ordered around by the boy was fatigued. The lad took out a small ball, not even half a foot in diameter, with a red top and white bottom, before hitting the white button on its middle section, causing it to expand to more than twice its original size. He then threw it at the creature, where it was enveloped in red before turning into energy and zooming into the now-opened ball. The ball shook once… twice... and then thrice before it let out a small click. The boy did a fist bump in celebration, and his apparent friends nodded in approval.

The black-haired being couldn't help but growl. His hands began to spark with bright red energy. "Might this be a display of _slavery_? Because I swear to my world's gods, if it is, there shall be a considerable amount of punishment to be made–!" But he cut himself off as he saw the boy's own creature nuzzle itself into its leg. The boy bent down, giving it a few pats on the head and likely murmuring a few words of gratitude. "… Hmm. This complicates things. Clearly, this creature likes its apparent master, yet the other was captured involuntarily… Do the humans earn the creatures' respect and love through attention and interaction, or do these balls indoctrinate them? I suppose that I shall simply have to see when I get there. Speaking of which…"

He spent a decently long while simply searching over the planet's surface, observing the fauna, flora, and the interactions between the former. He was mildly shocked to discover that many of the creatures were living side-by-side with the humans, working in tandem with them and living alongside them in general. "… This… This world ought to be too good to be true!" He couldn't help the small chuckle that left him. "So very brilliant, this peace between the humans and these creatures! Oh, if only such a truce held between all worlds for beings of differing species…" A great sigh. "Well, what is done is done, however atrocious those events may've been. So, this world itself needs no intervention on my part. The next step is to see what major happenstances are going on currently, and from there…" Yet another sigh. He shook his head, as if to dismiss the negative emotions coming onto him.

"Now, how to dress for this occasion…?"

He closed the hole in reality he had just created with a push in both of its edges, and, with another wave of the hand, created a robe. It was just big enough to cover everything but the very bottom of his black boots, and also had a large hood on its top to veil his face his features in shadow. Fancifully woven outlines were present on the edges of the piece of cloth, giving the otherwise all-black piece a stark contrast in the red lines.

"… Yes, this shall do. Though, methinks I should try out other colors besides black and red. A touch of white, perhaps…?" Splotches of said color then appeared behind the red outlines, which then faded from gray to black as it transitioned inward. He gave his new dress-piece a once-over.

" _Perfect_. Expanding my horizons is definitely something I should attempt more often. Now, what to do once I actually enter this world…?"

A groan of pain left the mouths of the two lesser deity Pokémon near-simultaneously. The young-looking entity exhaled, equal parts apologetic and frustrated. "You two shall be released from my hold soon. You oughtn't attempt to break free from me, anyways – it will ultimately prove to be a fruitless effort." The two continued to shudder in their forced slumber, grunts of pain still being loosed from their throats every now and then. The being once again shook his head, a depressed exhale leaving his throat as he did so.

"Your suffering shall leave you both in due time, as will my presence. No harm shall come of you two after that." He gave a pensive hum, rubbing his pointy chin.

"Which, I suppose, just leaves the last of my immediate questions: what to do with my new acquaintance and this "Oscura" of hers? Hmm…"


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Aggressors

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Even more shout-outs to onetimetrip for the Follow and to Lurking Pheonix for the Favorite!

Yet again, I must make it apparent how much I appreciate your attention!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Thirteen: Aggressors

* * *

A few more days had passed since her dream with the entity, and Marza was currently gazing up at the clock in an upper corner of the room in anticipation. "Three… Two… One…" she mumbled, and then the bell promptly rang, signaling the end of the school year, and, as most of the children in the class pointed out in their cheering: " _The year is over_!" It wasn't actually the end of the year, obviously; it was actually still the middle of July. No, rather, it was the end of the _school_ year.

The young boys and girls nearly sprinted out of the classroom, leaving Marza, who was still packing up and organizing her things, in the proverbial dust. She hardly minded this, of course; better to wait a couple of minutes and leave while everyone else attempted to escape the building through the miniscule front entrance.

Key words here being "attempted" and minuscule"; Marza could already hear the dozens of other kids falling to the floor and upon each other as well as their respective grunts of pain and frustration. Marza couldn't hold back her "heh" of bemusement at this.

It was only after the noise began to die down that she noticed her teacher lying on the ground. She had evidently been quite literally shoved aside, if her ruffled clothes and position were anything to go by. The older woman was scratching her head, as if uncertain as to what had just occurred. Marza walked over and offered a hand to her, and she took it gratefully, a smile gracing her features as she re-adjusted her glasses.

"Thank you, Marza. It's really quite a shame that most of the other children of this town seem incapable of following your examples…"

Marza shook her head, looking a bit irked. " _My_ examples? The fact that they would need to imitate _me_ , of all people, just shows how much of a pack of delinquents they are." _Blink_. "Like that. I'm not quite as polite as I let on, you know."

"Nonsense! You think too lowly of yourself, I think, especially since your words are practically nothing but the truth!"

Marza felt uncertain about her praise. "Well, I still don't think you're quite accurate about that thought, but the sentiment is appreciated. Anyways, I've got a bus to catch. Will I be seeing you next school year, or…?"

"I hope to continue being a teacher in the faculty, yes."

"Right."

They shook hands, and the younger lass left, heading to her locker to obtain the rest of her belongings before finally leaving the school for good.

As she was heading to her bus to leave the school grounds, however, she was intercepted by two other kids – specifically, the two who attempted to steal her books in their harassment attempt just a few days earlier. Marza let out a deep, tired-sounding sigh. "Oh. It's _you two_ again. What, do you plan on getting the last metaphorical words in for the year? Because that's more than a little petty, and I sincerely hope that you're both bright enough to realize even something as simple as that."

The slightly larger one of the two smirked. "Yeah, well, we don't really care about that little detail, do we, my friend?"

"Heh. Nope," he confirmed, voice a tad stupid-sounding yet still appearing eager for… _something_. Marza wasn't quite sure what this _something_ was, but she already didn't like it.

"Well, regardless of your intent, I've got a bus to ride home on, so if you'll excuse me…"

She made an attempt at ignoring them from that point on and walking off to do what she had intended to do, but was unsuccessful in this endeavor, as the lankier one roughly grabbed her by the hair. She resisted the urge to grunt in pain; one of the biggest ways to assert your authority over a person is to not show that you're hurting from something, after all, even in these types of circumstances.

The one with the greater amount of girth to his person walked up to her front to stare her in the eyes. "Not so tough now, are ya', _girlie_?!" he rhetorically inquired, his sneer nearly splitting his face into two separate pieces.

"Oh, so having another person helping you do the dirty work on restraining a single girl makes you "tough", then? Because if so, I believe that you need to grab a dictionary and take a quick glance at it."

The lad's sneer transformed into a snarl. "Think you're clever, huh? Well let's see your cleverness protect you from _this_!" He reared his hand back, palm open, and sent it flying into Marza's cheek, a resounding _slap_ sounding out as a result of the action. Marza's eyes widened dramatically, thoroughly startled. '… _Did he just get_ physical _with me_!?' Her shock was well-founded; she always made certain to be the one to physically get to her opposition first when the need arose, so she was justly startled to find that he possessed the audacity to make the first real move.

The boy grinned in satisfaction as her shocked expression. " _Now_ who's the tough guy!? Huh!?"

Taking a moment to r-compose herself and begin to ignore the pain, she spat, "Neither of us, because I'm not a guy and you're certainly not tough!"

The boy growled something fierce, rearing his hand back again, though this time his fist was closed.

' _A punch next, is it_?'

Anticipating this next blow, she shoved herself to the right, opposite to the way his arm was oriented, twisting her body so that her captor was instead facing her assaulter.

The portly boy caught a flying fist to the face, and he let go of the girl to reflexively clutch at his face as he howled in pain. "Oh, _shoot_!"

Marza took the opportunity of their distraction to escape, shoving the people in the circular crowd of people out of her path. She muttered a few apologies to those that she had pushed aside as she sprinted into the bus just as it reared into motion, the driver shooting her a concerned glance as she paced to the very back-left seat of the interior of the bright yellow vehicle.

Marza put a tentative hand to her cheek, rubbing it once the initial pain began to wore off. She didn't have a mirror on her person, but she could still tell that it was going to bruise up and stay present on features for at least a few days. She let out a sigh. "Doubtless this'll raise questions from my parents and Oscura…"

She rode the bus home in pensive silence, though she was also a tad rather frustrated by what occurred to her. The ride was peaceful, but her thoughts, on the other hand… ' _The fact that those two would do something like this_ … _It_ ' _s just a bit disconcerting_. _And the fact that they are hardly even teenagers yet_ …' She gave a worried hum. ' _And that_ ' _s not even getting into what_ ' _s going on with Arceus and that mysterious person_. _I haven't heard from either of them in the past few days_ , _which_ , _considering the frequency of these anomalous events_ , _is also definitely cause for concern_ …'

Before she even realized it, the bus drew close to her home, and she scrambled to get her now-jumbled, messy collection of belongings together and into a wieldy stack so that she could get it all back to her house in one trip. The road was a bit bumpy, after all. She initially struggled with carrying the load, yet still managed to carry all of her things out of the vehicle and into her home – not without a couple of breaks, however.

Eventually and finally, she pushed the front door of her house open and more or less barged into the house, Julius and Erise almost running to her to assist her in carrying her school-oriented belongings to where they ought to be. Upon getting close enough to notice their daughter had a rather distinctive red mark on her cheek, they both simultaneously gasped, concern riding its way onto their faces.

Julius inquired, "Marza! Did someone _slap_ you at school!?"

Marza nodded, then elaborated: "There are these two slightly older boys at school that're always dead-set on harassing me and _only_ me. Why this is, I've no idea, but they decided that they wanted to physically show their dislike of me by accosting me and giving me a slap to the face. And before you ask, I would've gotten a teacher, but only two or three of them really care about the students' well beings, despite the fact that caring for us kids is supposed to _literally be in the job description_. None of those few caring teachers of the members of the school faculty were nearby at the moment, so I decided to indirectly get physical in return and force the guy who was holding me still to accidentally receive a punch from the other boy intended for me. I got away and onto the bus afterwards."

"Marza, that's terrible! Why didn't you tell us about those two before, then? We could've called the school and gotten them punished for you!" Erise asked of the younger lass.

"Well, it's equal parts because those two are clearly of the vengeful sort, so if you did that, they'd probably just get worse with their actions against me, and because, well…" A brief, awkward silence, and then a small intake of breath. "I didn't want you fretting over me."

Marza's creators couldn't help but be touched by their daughter's sentiment. "… Marza, we appreciate the gesture, but if you find yourself ailing and if you know that someone is capable of helping you, then you should always reach out for assistance if you can."

Marza appeared uncertain about this, but before she could even open her mouth to respond, she had the wind knocked out of her as Oscura came barreling into her stomach in an over-eager hugging attempt, sending Marza flying to the ground and her things skewing across the wooden floor of the house. Once Marza got the air in her lungs back, she said to Oscura, after a small grunt of pain, "… Enthusiastic about me, aren't you, Oscura? Don't worry, I'll give you all the attention you want and deserve after I get all of my stuff organized. Before that, though, I'm going to have to ask that you _get off of me please you_ ' _re crushing me Oscura_." That last part was gasped out.

She did as the other female requested, giving her an apologetic small all the while. Marza sluggishly got up, clutching her stomach for a second before standing up fully. "Would you mind helping me move this stuff up to my room?" she asked of her parents. They both nodded, each picking up a decently sized portion of the contents that Marza had just spilled across the wooden surface of the floor. Marza then grabbed her own chuck of the fallen goods, and just as she made her way to the stairs, she noticed that there was still a small bag lying on the floor. Before she could point this admittedly miniscule mistake out to anyone, Oscura picked the errant object and the contents within, hurrying up the stairs along with the three humans. Marza smiled at the Larvitar in gratitude, and the Pokémon returned her smile in earnest.

Once everything was organized and placed in positions in her room that Marza deemed appropriate, her parents headed back downstairs to begin preparations for dinner. Marza relaxed in bed, Oscura joining her mere moments after she sat down.

Oscura had likely noticed the red mark on her cheek when she unintentionally tackled the human lass to the ground, but she now had the opportunity to ask about the wound in earnest, giving the offending cheek a small, gentle prod, as if to ask what had happened to make her acquire such a thing.

"It's nothing, Oscura. Trust me," she responded to the unspoken question, seeming completely sincere about her words. The alien tyke just gave her a concerned glance before once again lying beside her.

' _I suppose that the usual lessons for Oscura can wait an hour or two_ …' she decided, grabbing a book from her nightstand and getting a bit more cozy on the bed before flipping the hard-covered stack of word-filled papers open and started reading…


	15. Chapter Fourteen: The Offer

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

All due shout-outs to my new Followers, kittycatcacher, STr222, DarkSoul44, and Teraunce, as well as my new Favoriters(?), Vryheid, and, with a slightly larger shout-out, DarkSoul44 and Teraunce _again_!

The largest shout-out of them all, however, goes to Teraunce for the Review on top of the Follow and Fav'! I don't particularly think the title is catchy, even off the tongue, but if you think so, I suppose that the thought is appreciated!

And for those of you who're wondering why I took so long to pump this next chapter out? I had a six thousand-word plus Halloween special to make for my other story, _Dimensions and Realities_. Fun fact: it's the longest singular piece of literature I've ever made thus far in my entire life! So, needless to say, I believe that the delay was quite justified. Or, at the very least, I would certainly _hope so_!

That aside, however, I do request that you all keep it up with reading this thing, lads 'n' lassies!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Fourteen: The Offer

* * *

Cue music – _Fire Emblem Awakening_ soundtrack – " _We_ ' _d best prepare for combat_ , _just to be safe_."

Marza's eyes opened slowly and sluggishly, and she yawned widely for an entire two and a half seconds. She lazily glanced around at her surroundings before she came awake fully; the prismatic wisps of energy and space-like backdrop quickly indicated to Marza that this was a dream. Specifically, a dream in which someone would come and talk to her.

' _I sort of feel like an insane person for thinking the people in my dreams are real_ , _but considering the mere_ existence _of Oscura_ …' A head shake.

She then verbally spoke rather than mentally, in an ever-so-slight slight deadpan, "Who is it this time? Is it you again, person-who-never-gave-his-name-to-me?"

A small huff from her left. The lass turned to meet the shadowy man's stare. That veil of his was up just like last time, covering all but his eyes, though the act was somewhat pointless to Marza; she had already seen his face, after all, and the face is probably the most significant and unique feature a person possesses. "Mmh. 'Tis. How _ever_ did you guess, Marza?"

Marza couldn't help the snort that escaped her mouth. "Well, who else do you think is capable of somehow coming into my dreams like this? Because I can count the amount of people that I know of who can with just _two fingers_."

"Hmph, point given."

A brief silence, before the teenage-looking man cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, I certainly haven't come here just to be pragmatic, pointless, and all around _spooky_. _Gods_ , that's such a fun word to say. _Spooky_ , _spooky_ , _spooky_ …"

Marza stared, thoroughly befuddled by the young-looking man's antics. ' _Is this another mood swing of his_? _Is he not right in the head_?' she thought as he began an impromptu humming session, the faint auras somehow gyrating as he reached slightly louder parts of his tune. His eyes gained what could easily be considered a look of far-offedness, as if he were fondly remembering something…

She waited for several long moments for him to finish up his little spiel, and when she realized that it was likely that he wouldn't be stopping anytime soon, she pointed out to him, "You said that you were here to not be pointless, and as far as I'm concerned, you're idle humming isn't really fulfilling your commitment…"

His eyes snapped open as this remark, and, grumbling softly, he responded, "Apologies again. You may find some of my tendencies to be… _curious_ , to say the least. Anyways, I have come not to be… well, you've already heard _that_ part, so I'll merely ask you this simple question as well as some follow–ups:

"Are you not curious as to what I may have done to Arceus?"

Marza was hesitant to answer, even though said answer was obvious from the perspective of one such as her's. The man just gazed quietly at her for the several seconds it took to formulate her response, until she finally spoke, giving a disproportionately small phrase for how long she took to make: "Indeed I am. Why is it that you ask?"

She imagined that the being shrugged underneath its veil. "Well, I am willing to give you a chance to investigate what I am up to… as well as give you the opportunity of a _life time_. As it so turns out, Marza, you have piqued my interest. You strike me as the sort of girl who thinks that his or her life is so very bland… boring… _ordinary_. I will give you the chance to change that.

"If you are so inclined, I can whisk you away to the world which Arceus ruled – and rest assured, he still does, at least for the moment."

Marza's eyes went nearly as wide as saucers as this. "Wh – you can't be serious! You think that I'll just hop into what is probably and obviously a trap on your part!? Fat chance!"

The being was none too bemused by this ascertation. "Definitely bright for your age, aren't you? Well, yes, your guesses are undeniably well-founded, especially considering how evil I look." An audible scoff. "I'll have you know that being all red and black wasn't exactly a choice on my part. The forces which I work and function upon just so happen to symbolically represent the nature of the wielder, as well as their… _mental state_." Then, a sigh. "Again, _not my fault_."

"You know, those statements aren't really dissuading me from thinking that your intentions are malign."

"… I suppose not. However, that still will not stop from asking you to at least humor me. If you're thinking that that world isn't safe, I can show you a few of the things I had the chance to encounter."

He didn't wait for a response; with a wave of the arm, images flashed into existence. A beautiful forest, crawling with adorable, caterpillar-esque creatures; a brilliant azure sky, birds and seemingly _dragons_ flying together; and even a shot of a blatantly _beautiful_ underwater scene, filled to the brim with all manners of fish-looking Pokémon.

Marza was understandably in awe, but managed to ignore the temptation to give in to his offer. "Just because something seems beautiful on the surface hardly means that it's not deadly. Even someone _my age_ knows that. Plus, you could just be making all of these pictures up. Considering that you're, you know, _in my dreams_ , I'm not really doubting the possibility of you doing something as comparatively basic as this."

" _Heh_. Once again, your skills in deduction are nothing short of impressive considering your age." He let silence hang in the dream-air for a few moments. "Now that I bother to think about it, I suppose that I didn't really have a whole lot of decent reasons for you to come to Arceus' world, huh? Especially seeing as how I look and act like some sort of villain from a fairy tale?" Once again, a brief moment of silence, until: "Well, from what little you've _truly_ seen of me, anyways. I suppose that this leaves me with only one thing left to say to persuade you with, then. Tell me, Marza:

"Do you consider yourself a good person?"

Marza was taken aback by this sudden turn. "A good person…?" She took a short while to respond. "I'm no paragon, but, say, if I see someone being bullied in the streets, I'll definitely try to help the victim out. The bystanders are just as bad as the bullies themselves for not intervening, after all," she decided, remembering distinctly what had happened to herself not a quarter a day earlier.

A glint of respect entered the entity's eyes. "An admirable sentiment, as well as an all-too true fact on that second part." He almost sounded… _resentful_ when he said that second part, much to Marza's curiosity.

' _Was he bullied as a child_ , _too_? _Or possibly even_ worse…?' Marza pondered, beginning to feel a touch of pity for the being.

He then _stuttered_ out, "A-Anyways! My point here is simply this:

"If you think yourself a good person, you should investigate these potentially dangerous events that I am making happen. Seeing as how I can traverse _dimensions_ , and that I may be doing what I am doing to harm, I imagine that you would want to stop whatever I may be up to… and assist Arceus in the process."

"Again, you aren't going to persuade me to easily, whatever-your-name-is. You'd best just stop trying."

Another several seconds passed in perfect quiet.

"… Is there truly _nothing_ that I can do to persuade you in this matter?"

Marza felt tempted to scoff at his persistence. "Indeed."

The entity exhaled in a drawn-out sigh. "… I see. Very well, then. Regardless of this decision, I shall open a portal in your room three days from now. Whether you go in it or not is entirely up to you – unlike some, I will not force you through it. Do be aware, however, that if something bad happens in the future because of me, and it involves, say, your loved ones…"

The area of darkness covering his face was momentarily dissipated, showing her his pale-skinned face, which, at the moment, was sporting a truly _haunting_ grin. His eyes glimmered and glowed softly as he said, in an eerie tone of voice:

" _It just may be on your head for not intervening_."

The dream promptly faded into a black nothingness…

* * *

And then Marza awoke with a sharp exhale, his words sending chills through her very core...


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Taking a Chance

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Aww, geez! Two _thousand_ hits already? You guys and gals do me a great service by giving this story some attention! I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again:

Your attention humbles me!

A great many thanks to November Red Angel and an anonymous Guest for the Reviews!

That probably won't happen, at least on Mewtwo's part, November. Above all else, I value characters being realistic. Considering Mewtwo's nature and history, I don't quite think it'd be realistic from him to just try being friends like that out of the blue. That's what Iji's trying to do, and will eventually succeed in.

Spoilers, I guess?

And as for the plot… Well, it'll _seem_ like that at first, but trust me when I say it will become far, _far_ more.

And as for you, Guest… It's definitely shameful, but you don't quite know what out mysterious person is attempting to do yet, do you? _Heh_.

… Oh, yes, and have a _spooky_ 2015 Halloween, my readers!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Fifteen: Taking a Chance

* * *

Cue music – _Fire Emblem_ : _Path of Radiance_ soundtrack – _Quiet Days_

Considering how the previous days have went, at least in terms of waking up in the morning, it was almost startling to see Oscura rouse with Marza, and so quickly on top of that. The Pokémon gazed at Marza, eyes filled with concern at the other female's thoroughly frightened expression. The human let out a long, steady exhale in an attempt to calm her rattled nerves. Oscura let a small chirp of worry, grasping onto Marza's hand re-assuringly. Another sigh left Marza's mouth at this gesture, and she then forced a smile.

"Thanks, Oscura. It was just a nightmare. Nothing you should concern yourself with."

Oscura eyed Marza, appearing uncertain as to whether she was telling the truth or not.

"No, really. It's not like people can just hop into my head and–" She cut herself off, thinking better of her words. The look that the Larvitar was giving Marza just confirmed that knew she was fibbing by this point, so she figured that she may as well fess up.

"… Sorry for lying to you, Oscura. It's just that there's nothing that we can–"

Another pause.

"… Okay, there _is_ something that we can do about it. In three days, to be precise." She then told the Rock Skin Pokémon about the occurrences in her dreams for a second time.

' _Two times too many_ , _I think_ …'

Four minutes was the amount of time it took to explain the situation to Oscura. She didn't interrupt throughout the entire thing, just sitting there and taking the information in.

Several long moments passed after said tale was finished, with the ensuing silence only being broken by Oscura's movements as she stood up-right, once again appearing uncertain as to what to think.

Marza picked up on this indecisiveness, and said, "I don't really know what to do, either, Oscura. His talking about my family getting involved in whatever he's doing may be shallow words, but…"

A third sigh.

Oscura took the lass' hand for the second time, giving it an assuring squeeze with both limbs. Marza grinned at the display of affection, though this time, the facial contortion was completely genuine in its meaning.

"Thanks again, Oscura. I think, together, we can both get through whatever happens next…!" she announced, confident and optimistic.

 _Another_ pause.

"… That sounded _really_ cheesy, didn't it?"

A nod of confirmation.

And, finally, a fourth sigh.

* * *

The day passed in relative boredom. Marza's finishing of the school year may have relieved Julius and Erise, what with the removal of the possibility of Marza being bullied and such, but this change in living didn't particularly affect the work hours of their day-jobs. As such, Marza and Oscura were left to their own devices for the entirety of the day, at least strictly speaking, as her parents usually got back just as evening began.

After Marza's usual morning routine, as well as the twos' consuming of breakfast, the odd pair spent a solid hour and a half in education. As was per usual, Marza taught Oscura a mixture of English and mathematics. Oscura once again shocked Marza with her pace of learning – the tyke had practically mastered spelling and was rapidly eating away at the unnecessarily large and complex sandwich that was the grammar of the English language.

' _If she retains this rate of learning beyond her childhood_ , _I_ ' _m honestly curious as to just how much she can learn_ , _and how fast compared to the average person_! _Why_ , _if it weren_ ' _t for the fact that her discovery by everyone else would probably cause_ who knows what _to happen_ , _I_ ' _d be tempted to let her go to an actual school and see how well she does grade_ - _wise_!' she idly contemplated as she patiently waited for Oscura to complete the assignment that she had assigned.

The day passed in relative calm after that. No real incidents occurred for the rest of the morning, the afternoon, the evening, and even the night. No odd dreams

The clutter of worry that clouded Marza's mind more than made up for this tranquility, however. He consciousness was like a tempest bearing down upon a boat of minuscule size. The decision that Marza was attempting to reach was like the journey to the final destination on said boat: long, arduous, rocky, and potentially filled with much vomiting.

… Okay, probably not that last part, but the point has been gotten across, regardless!

This metaphorical journey lasted for the next two days. Marza was justly on the fence about the matter of going through the portal that the man had promised would appear.

' _He_ ' _s clearly not someone to be trusted_ … _But at the same time_ , _if I don_ ' _t take up his offer and go through the portal_ , _he might get Erise and Julius involved in whatever he_ ' _s up to_ …'

Perhaps this is needless to point out, but many sighs left her throat as time passed during these days.

It was a short time after the sun rose on the third day when she finally came to a decision.

Marza spent the nearly entire day waiting and filled with tension, only coming out to do things like eat, drink, or relieve herself.

It was just past twilight when the shadowy, red-tinged portal opened in her room, just a few feet away from her bed. She fetched Oscura from downstairs when this happened. As she, too, looked upon the dimensional gateway, the Pokémon swiftly realized what Marza intended to do. She nodded, tugging at her pants sleeve in an assuring manner, as if to say, "I'm with you, whatever you decide to do." The human once again nodded in appreciation at the gesture.

After spending a few minutes getting some items that she thought she may need packed into her school backpack (she lamented the fact that she would have to use it again so soon), Marza gazed down at Oscura.

Taking her in her arms and clutching her tightly, Marza and Oscura both took a deep, slightly shuddery breath…

Before the lass sprinted into the portal, barely managing to stifle a scream as the darkness engulfed their vision.

* * *

A note was drawn up and left on the house's refrigerator's front.

It read as such:

Julius and Erise:

I'm… _away_. I will be for a decently long while, I imagine. But don't worry. I'll be back, trust me.

The reason that I've left is because something's happened to Arceus. This strange, ominous-looking being did something to him – something bad, judging by his own words – and I intend to figure out what before he gets you two involved in whatever plot he's up to.

Don't try looking for me. Trust me when I say that you won't find me.

I'm sorry for not telling you two about this earlier, or for warning you that I would be leaving.

And… Again, don't worry about me. I'll be fine.

Be seeing you two soon.

– Marza

Julius broke down in tears.

Erise embraced him, feeding him comforting words.

Neither appeared to realize or particularly care that the standard gender roles had just been reversed.

They just wanted the comfort they provided for each other in those heart-wrenching moments of loss…


	17. Chapter ?: S

Cue music – _Fire Emblem Awakening_ soundtrack – _Id_ ( _Beginnings_ )

Once upon a time…

There was a boy. A simple boy, who lived a simple life with his not-quite-as-simple parents.

His home was bleak; consisting almost solely of dull, ragged rocks and the occasional stream of lava, and no night sky to speak of; the only thing above was a nigh-endless black expanse.

No one lived within a reasonable distance within the boy and his family, making for quite the lonely existence.

Food and water were non-existent, as well, leaving him unknown to what the sensation of taste truly felt like. It could be considered fortunate, then, that the laws of this realm were different than most.

But, despite this large amount of negatives, he was content.

His first few years were blissful; he may have oft' times been bored when he learned to stand up-right without the aid of his parents, as the bleakness of his home left little room for innovation to create games.

Yet, again, he was simply happy to be around them; to _live_ with them, and to _be_ with them.

His parents were, as well. They were all too aware of the fact that every moment with their son mattered, for their lives could change for the worse at any given time.

And indeed, the subjects of their constant worries arrived, come the child's third birthday…


	18. Chapter Sixteen: Welcome

Author's Note:

And now, the story _really_ begins to pick up…

My gratitude to TheSuperMario for the Fav'!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Sixteen: Welcome…

* * *

Marza slowly opened her eyes, feeling drowsy, as if she had just woken up from the deepest slumber of her life. Gazing up at the bright sun, which, at the moment, was partly concealed by the canopies of the nearby trees, she quickly realized that it was common sense to _not gaze directly at the sun for more than a few seconds_.

"Ow…" she murmured, propping herself up-right against the tree she just so happened to be right next to, rubbing her eyes as she did so. The lass looked around briefly, noticing Oscura just a few inches away from her person, and delicately took her in her arms, placing the Rock Skin Pokémon on her lap as she continued to scan the immediate vicinity.

' _I definitely h_ _aven_ ' _t been to a place such as this before_ … _I don_ ' _t really think that such a forested, natural area is anywhere near my town_ , _either_ …' she observed, oddly calm considering that she had no idea as to where she was supposed to be.

Then she remembered what had recently occurred.

"Oh, _yeah_ , I hopped through that portal, didn't I…? Well, looks like he was being sincere about not putting me in danger. For the time being, at least," the girl mumbled, as to not draw attention from whatever may be watching her at the moment. However serene the scene may look at the moment, she was wise enough to acknowledge that beauty easily conceals danger.

She simply spent the next few minutes loafing around, patiently awaiting the time to come when Oscura woke from her own slumber.

Approximately half a minute passed before she realized that she was indeed being watched. She noticed the occasional rustle of the bushes, as well as heard the shaking of the leaves as things moved through and around them.

What these things were, Marza already knew: they were most likely Pokémon.

The cute appearance and mannerisms of Oscrua, who was a Pokémon herself, hardly stopped her from fretting about how vicious the local wildlife of wherever she was may potentially be.

She was immensely tempted to panic, but managed a refrain. ' _Pokémon are apparently intelligent_. _With any luck_ , _I_ ' _ll be able to reason with whatever comes out if I must_ , _if something indeed does_ …' she assured herself.

A particularly noisy rustle sounded out as a Pokémon emerged from a brush to Marza's left. It appeared to be a bird, with a brown-on-tan plumage and almost comically large eyes. It hopped towards her with caution, head tilted to its right in curiosity, and Marza eyed it with what was likely an even larger amount of trepidation.

When it came within arm's reach, the Pokémon gave the grassy ground underneath it a few flattening pats before it sat itself down, head still tilted as it gazed it Marza. The lass just gazed at it in return, not really willing to act upon its drawing close.

A minute passed before a few more Pokémon grew courageous enough to come out of hiding and come towards Marza's position. Marza's eyes slowly widened as she took in the features of the highly varied cast of Pokémon that she was looking at at the moment. They ranged anywhere from a slightly larger version of the bird-esque Pokémon that came to her first to what were seemingly cocoons with dull-looking eyes. The latter descended from the branches of the nearby trees on barely visible threads of string.

Marza once again felt tempted to feel weary of the approaching Pokémon, but thought better of it. ' _If they wanted to do away with me_ , _they would_ ' _ve already done so by this point_ ,' Marza reasoned.

The Pokémon didn't dare to approach any closer than the first bird-like Pokémon, seating themselves and making a sort of perimeter around the human girl. Whether this was intentional or not was purely speculation.

Marza slowly relaxed, herself, eventually acknowledging the fact that they meant her no harm, at least for the moment.

* * *

Several minutes passed of quaint, peaceful silence. Some of the Pokémon began nodding off, closing their eyes and resting, while others made themselves busy by staring at the lass. This entire circumstance brought a spark of recognition to Marza's eyes.

' _I guess Mom wasn_ ' _t kidding when she said that I was an animal person_. _They seem far more curious about me than hostile_. _And if both are true_ …'

She slowly leaned over, and, with a bit of trepidation, tentatively stretched a hand out to touch the pigeon-like Pokémon that first approached her, doing so with the utmost sluggishness as to not startle the thing away and cause a potential riot.

Marza was pleasantly surprised when it willingly approached her hand and began nudging it, as if seeking a petting session. Marza obliged, scratching it under the chin and upside the head to give it maximum pleasure. After some relatively long moments of this, with a fluttering of its wings, it flew over to the sapphire-eyed girl, sitting down not two inches away from her person, chirping softly every now and again as Marza resumed petting it.

The other Pokémon, now certain of their mutual friendliness with the human, also drew nearer still to Marza. The raven-haired girl took turns petting each of them, carefully measuring how long she did so to make sure that none of them began to grow jealous of each other's smaller/larger amounts of attention.

Yet another several minutes passed, this time filled with the sounds of bird Pokémon chirping and others purring, or doing the equivalent thereof.

After said several minutes, Oscura finally began to rouse from her own sleep, just as slowly and relaxed as Marza had. She glanced around at the other Pokémon, eyes swiftly widening as she swiftly hopped off of Marza's lap, glaring and growling at the gathered Pokémon in the most intimidating manner she could muster.

Which is to say, with her startlingly frightening glare, _very_ intimidating.

Before the other monsters could react, Marza called Oscura off, borderline yelling, "Oscura! There's no need to be aggressive! Everything's fine!"

But the damage had already been done: all but one or two of the Pokémon fled immediately, and the remaining ones fled a second or two later, following what may've been their own sense of preservation. Marza exhaled despondently at this rubbing a hand against her temple. Oscura, upon both hearing her words and seeing her reaction, appeared downcast in turn. Marza pat the Rock Skin Pokémon a few times on the head, uttering a few comforting words:

"Don't you fret, Oscura. It's not like they'll be after us because of this little incident or some such, right?"

A brief silence.

"I would hope not, at least. I don't know what any Pokémon are like besides you and Arceus, in retrospect." She grinned none too nervously; Oscura was hardly assured by her words.

"Well, this _hopefully_ small debacle aside, I think we should get going. Assuming that the mystery man's showings of this world were true, there are humans and cities in this world, as well. With any luck, we should be within a reasonable distance of one. Which direction to head towards, though…?"

That last part was a self-inquisitive mumble. Oscura rubbed at her chin with the front of a forelimb, also pondering on how to solve this dilemma of theirs.

A decent number of moments passed in pensive quiet before Marza decided, "You know what? I don't think that us sitting here, wondering on where to go, is going to do anything of productiveness. I hardly believe that my stomach or my patience could really handle waiting until nightfall to wait for the lights of a town or city to make themselves evident, either, especially since it looks and feels like it's… what, noon? Something like that? So I say that we just pick a direction and go. Does this plan sound good to you, Oscura?"

The tyke nodded in agreement. A few turnabouts and glances later, Marza selected the way they would go, and the two were off on the true beginning of their adventure…

Unaware of the sharp, human eyes watching them as they went. A boyish scoff left said human's mouth before he started after the pair, intent of following them until he reached his destination…


	19. Chapter Seventeen: To a Brand New World!

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

You may notice that the summary has changed with the arrival of the previous chapter! This story is hardly _just_ about Marza taking care of Oscura by this point, so I figured that a change of summary would only be logical and correct!

Shout-outs to Teraunce for the Review! Sorry about the short chapters; I think I'll make them a bit more lengthy as the story progresses; what I'm worried about is getting too concerned about making a chapter long and either making you and the other readers wait for a long time, or get overwhelmed by needing to make the chapters long and run out of steam for writing.

And I don't think that _any_ of us want that, now _do we_?

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Seventeen: To a Brand New World!

* * *

Marza wasn't entirely certain as to how much time had passed since they had started their not-so-little trek. The clock on her phone would, in all likelihood, by useless, considering that A) this world probably had different phone signals, if it even _did_ had them, and B) _they were in an alternative universe_. It would be nothing short of a _miracle_ if her phone's time was even _remotely_ accurate, now. And she was hardly used to judging the overall movement of the sun – she was too used to clocks – so using that as a time measurement, even in a vague sort of sense, was also out of the question…

' _Why am I even thinking so hard about the passage of time all of a sudden_? _It_ ' _s not a big deal_ , _and_ , _with any luck_ , _it won_ ' _t_ become _a big deal_. _This isn_ ' _t one of those overly dramatic survival shows_ , _which_ , _upon further thinking_ , _aren_ ' _t even actually dramatic to begin with_ , _seeing as how the person_ ' _s TV crew_ ' _d probably just pull them out if they truly got into a life_ - _threatening situation_ …'

It was then that she came to an admittedly insignificant realization:

'… _I must be really_ bored _and really_ strange _to be thinking about such things in this type of circumstance_ …'

She shrugged, and then asked Oscura, who Marza had since taken into her arms, "Are you bored, Oscura? Because, despite that fact that we're in an _entirely new world_ , I certainly am."

The Pokémon nodded in affirmation, stifling a dull sigh.

"That's what I thought. Hmm…"

Time continued to pass. It felt as if they – or, rather, Marza – had been waking for at _least_ two hours.

Fun fact: it had only been approximately half of that time.

Yet despite this, Marza was already beginning to feel rather tired, especially in the legs and feet.

"This is what I get for not bothering to go to a summer camp or join the girl scouts, I suppose… It probably doesn't help that this backpack is more than a little heavy, either…" she mumbled, a tad aggravated. Oscura appeared concerned, and, with a bit of squirming, hopped out of the lass' grip, now walking alongside her rather than just being on her person. Marza smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks, Oscura. But if you get tired again, just ask to hop back into my hands, okay?"

The Rock Skin Pokémon let out a "Tar!" of acknowledgement, and, with that, the two resumed their walk to the nearest town.

Assuming that they were, indeed, heading in the right direction!

It was another hour later when Marza truly began to feel exhausted, and sat herself down against the closest tree to her at that time.

When Marza glanced up, she truly noticed that most of the leaves had tiny patches or yellow and orange – a tell-tale sign of the approaching seasonal change.

"Fall already? But summer's just started…!" she quietly joked, not really expecting a response. And indeed, she didn't get one, aside from Oscura's quirking of an eyelid.

"It's a school time-related thing, Oscura. I'll probably talk to you about it later," she spoke in response to the unspoken inquiry.

A curt nod from the Pokémon.

"… Actually, scratch that. Methinks that we're going to be sitting here for a little while, so we might as well talk right now."

And so they did. Or, rather, Marza explained to Oscura a few concepts and subjects that she likely was not yet familiar with – I.E., the aforementioned school times (at least in her home country – she knew that school systems can vary quite drastically in places), with the red-eyed tyke nodding or chirping every now and then to confirm that she understood her explanations.

Nearly thirty minutes whizzed along before Marza felt that her feet and legs were no longer sore enough to allow her to continue. She voiced the sentiment with a small grunt as she rose from her position: "I think that I'm good to go again. Let's continue onwards, Oscura." Another up-and-down motion of the head followed from the monster as she, too, rose.

Finally, after yet _another_ relatively long while of walking, the pair came upon a small, peaceful little town. The design of the buildings – most of which were two-storied, Marza noticed – reminded the lass distinctly of the design of the average building found in most first world countries back on Earth. One particularly large one near the apparent entrance-exit of the town appeared to be a laboratory of sort, what with the miscellaneous tools lying about and odd objects protruding from several of the construct's surfaces.

' _And judging by how they_ ' _re all lying about in a mass outside_ , _the person living there_ ' _s either a scatterbrain or rather poor at organization_. _Possible both_ , _and_ man, _I need to stop being so judgmental_. _For all I know_ , _it could just be cramped in that building_. _Who knows_?'

A short, mental pause.

' _Well_ , _plenty of people_ , _actually_. _People_ live _here_ , _obviously_ , _so doubtless that_ someone'd–'

A tug on one of the girl's pant legs broke her from her reverie and caused her to look down. She then took in her fellow female's curious – no, _eager_ expression.

"Guess you want to hurry up and _really_ meet the locals, huh? Sorry, I was just thinking, and I'm being completely sincere this time around when I say that this train of thought was nothing to concern yourself with."

Oscura gazed straight into Marza's eyes for a second.

Two.

Three.

And a fourth before finally giggling, judging her to be truthful.

"Well," said Marza, "time to go meet some more of the locals…"

And with that comment, the two walked slowly (and a tad wearily) into the unfamiliar town…

 _The wind was howling_...

* * *

The boy knew he was making a gamble when he decided to follow the girl upon stumbling upon her in the woods, surrounded by some _weakling_ Pokémon, those few hours ago. She could've easily gone the wrong direction, subsequently making him err in his path, as well, but, luckily, her random guess ended up being the right one rather than the wrong one.

The fiery-haired boy, recognizing the town, tip-toed away as quietly as he could towards the location of the lab-esque building. Now that the girl's done what he wanted, that being to unintentionally guide him, there was no need to stick around her any longer. He was hardly a creeper or a stalker, after all, unlike _some_ people.

… And _no_ , this whole mess of his did _not_ start because he was lost and didn't have a map of some sort.

 _Idiot_.

Her words confused him, however. ' _Other worlds_? _Summer just starting_? _What was she going on about_ …?'

He shook his head, brushing the curiosity, as well as the girl herself, out of his mind for the moment.

' _Whatever_. _She_ ' _s served her purpose_ , _anyways_ , _and when I get my hands on a strong enough Pokémon_ …!'

He couldn't help the mildly sinister chuckle that left his mouth then.

' _Then I_ ' _ll show her not to be such a goody_ - _two_ - _shoes_ … _Those kinds of people never fail to aggravate me_ …!'


	20. Chapter Eighteen: The Winds of Change

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

With all due apologies for the slightly monger than average delay. I blame the sudden burst of writing assignments, and I assume that most of you all know how draining that can be on your will to write…

The Reviews are also appreciated, Skikdi-Skies and November Red Angel, and, well… However obvious it may seem, I suppose that you'll both just have to wait and see along with the rest of the readers, hmm?

Do tell me if I'm doing a good job with keeping the canon characters IC, okay, guys? That'd be much-appreciated!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and_ _Monsters_

Chapter Eighteen: The Winds of Change

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon_ _Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal_ _Version_ soundtrack – _New Bark Town_

"… New Bark Town, eh?" Marza remarked, briefly gazing at the humble sign right near the entrance of town. "How fitting considering our situation, eh, Oscura? Especially that description: "'A town where the wind blows and tells of impending change.'"

And, in a borderline prompt manner, the wind once again howled.

" _Definitely_ fitting…"

The lass was interrupted in her musings by a white-on-blue blur crashing into her, sending her as well as whatever had just knocked into her person to the ground. Both were thankfully spared of any significant injury, yet Oscura still sprang into action with even more speed than was usual for her, roughly shoving the circular Pokémon off of the lass and giving it the harshest glare she could manage. Knowing that the red-eyed Pokémon's glare was intimidating to a startling degree, Marza watched as the primarily blue Pokémon was promptly frozen to the spot.

Before Marza could even attempt to _again_ call Oscura off, a young, feminine voice called out, "Marill! Where are you!? I'm getting a bit tired of hid and seek for today…!"

A red-shirted girl with shortened blue overalls and an equally blue hat came into Marza's view. Her brown hair was tied into twin pigtails, which inexplicable appeared to defy gravity. '… _How is her hair_ doing that? _The_ ' _tails don_ ' _t appear to be nearly short enough to do resist gravity_ , _and it doesn't look nearly shiny enough to have some sort of hair gel applied to it_ …' Her thoughts went abruptly unfinished for the second time in a minute when the girl came over, panting softly, and took in the situation, eyed widening to a near-comical degree. After a few seconds of this, she said, "Uh, hello, whoever you are? Would you mind calling off your Larvitar? I'm not looking for a battle at the moment, and I don't think Marill is, either…"

Indeed, the Pokémon slowly backed away before sprinting towards the other girl, hopping into her awaiting arms when it got close enough. "Well, I suppose that _that_ action isn't really necessary at this point," she corrected with a shrug. "Anyways, I imagine that you're on the ground because Marill here barreled into you by accident. Sorry, she tends to do that a lot, ah…?"

The blue-eyed pre-teen got herself up before responding to the prompt. "Marza, and yes, you are correct in that assumption. And you don't need to apologize; I think that someone else owes me an apology…"

The Marill chirped out in an inexplicably apologetic manner.

A brief time of silence, before: "I don't know what you said, but I suppose that'll have to do." A shrug accompanied those words.

The brown-haired girl grinned in appreciation for the mutual resolution of this conflict. "Well, not that that little conflict's been settled, I suppose that it's my town to tell you my name. I'm Lyra, and as I've already said a few times, this is my friend, Marill!"

"'Rill!" spoke the female Pokémon, appearing rather chipper despite the previous tensions. Marza was a tad relieved that this "Lyra" wasn't holding a petty grudge or some such from this small encounter.

"So! Why is it that you're here in New Bark Town, anyways? You evidently don't need to pick up a starter Pokémon – you clearly have that Larvitar – so are you just here for some sight-seeing, or what?"

Marza was awkwardly silent for a solid two seconds before she hesitantly responded, "… I suppose that you could say that…?"

' _Again_ , _not a_ complete _lie_. _This world_ does _appear to be rather interesting_ , _after all_ …'

"Neat-o! Though New Bark is obviously quite small," a swing of an arm, as if to show Marza the size of the town, "I do believe that you'll be needing a tour guide! Follow me, if you would please!"

' _Enthusiastic_ , _isn_ ' _t she_?' thought Marza, and she again glanced down to meet Oscura's gaze, and the two shared a soft giggle before following after the other human lass.

She firstly escorted the pair to the edge of town, which was only roughly a fifteen minute walk. The blueness of the water stretched on for quite the distance; Marza could barely see a shoreline on the other side. "This is the waterway leading up to the Tohjo Falls! Though, seeing as how the "Trainer Season", so to speak, has only just begun, I imagine that you won't be going down that route for quite some time."

Marza quirked a brow. ' _Trainer season_ …?'

The over-all'd girl than ran over to a nearby building. "This is my friend Ethan's house! If you find him, you should wave and say hello. He's a mute, though, so don't be offended if he doesn't verbally respond back!"

' _A mute_? _That always_ did _sound rough_ , _not being capable of audible speech_ …'

The two humans and equivalent number of Pokémon then headed to a building that was relatively similar in design and size to the previous. "This is my house! Feel free to pop in at any reasonable time and say hello to my mom or I!"

A few more buildings practically flew by until Lyra once again stopped, this time in front of the laboratory-esque building. "And _this_ is Professor Elm's house! Or laboraty. It's actually both, I think."

Marza's brow subconsciously rose again. ' _I_ ' _ve heard of city folk living in their places of work_ , _but this is hardly what I would call a_ " _small town_."'

"Anyways! You should head inside when I'm done showing you around; Elm may seem like a forgetful klutz at first, but he's really pretty bright!"

Marza noted this recommendation for use in what would likely be the near-immediate future. As they progresses from Elm's building to the next, and what also appeared to be one of the last, the lass made out a silhouette hiding in the building's shadow with relative ease, taking in his red locks and fiery eyes as he stood on his tip-toes to gaze at the building's interior as well as his… cunning? devious? smirk. The boy didn't appear to notice her as he stared, and Marza only moved on with Lyra's somewhat loud "C'mon! What're you standing around for!?"

' _He seems_ … more than a little _suspicious_ … _I_ ' _d better keep an eye out for him if he shows up again_.'

The previously mentioned last house came and went in Lyra's tour relatively quickly, and with a few steps to distance herself and Marza, she spoke:

"And _that_ concludes this impromptu tour of New Bark Town! Any questions?"

Marza couldn't help the bemused grin that came upon her face. ' _She_ ' _s_ really _trying to go all the way with this whole tour guide shtick_ , _isn_ ' _t she_?'

"I don't believe so, no."

A flippantly cheerful grin graced the other female's features. "Great! Than feel free to explore around! You'll probably find this place to be really friendly if you stick around long enough!" Something that sounded distinctly like a cellular device's tell-tale rind sounded out in the girl's yellow bag, and, after a bit of scrambling through her apparent belongings, she pulled out a pink, multi-sectioned device that indeed reminded Marza of a cell phone.

"Hello?"

…

"Oh, hey, Mom! What do you need?"

…

"What's taking me so long for the weekly shopping? Aw, geez! Sorry! I got caught up in a game of hide and seek with Marill, then I showed a new friend of mine around town! She hasn't been here before, you see…"

…

"Alright! See you in a few hours, Mom! Love you too! Bye-bye!"

 _Click_.

Lyra turned around to face Marza. "Well, you heard me! I've got to go do some shopping! See you later, Marza!"

And then she quite literally _ran_ for the town's entrance/exit, the Marill sparing Marza a brief look before running off after her.

What Lyra and the Marill didn't notice, however, was the fact that Marza's eyes were open just a bit wider than usual.

'… _Friend_? _She considers me a_ friend _even though we_ ' _ve barely known each other for half an hour_?'

She barely stifled a chuckle at this revelation. ' _Well_ , _is she insists_ , _I suppose that I_ ' _ll oblige_. _Friends are almost never a bad thing to have_ , _anyways_.'

Scooping Oscura up and into her arms (the Rock Skin Pokémon chirped appreciatively at this; she was getting rather tired of walking so much and so quickly), she said, "Well, I guess that we'll go and follow Lyra's example and check out this "Professor Elm". Shall we, Oscura?"

A nod of agreement.

* * *

Upon re-visiting the general vicinity of the professor's house, Marza noted that the red-haired boy was now absent from his previous place. Her eyes narrowed a tad because of this discovery, with Oscura letting out a curious "Lar?" at the lass' expression.

"Oh, it's likely no–!"

She cut herself off.

"Yeah, we _both_ know that by this point when I say that when I say that, it turns out to be the near-complete opposite." She exhaled softly. "Ah, well. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it if it does indeed become the case…"

Another up-and-down motion of the head of mutualism from the Larvitar.

After carefully navigating the maelstrom of gadgets skewed about the front of the building, the girl opened the door to Elm's house and, with only a trace amount of hesitance, walked inside…


	21. Chapter Nineteen: The Pokémon Professor

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

My apologies, with even more seriousness than usual. I have undeniably been slacking off, playing vidja gaems, though I will also have you know that my school work, particularly in English, has been rather troublesome as of late. With Thanksgiving break upon us North Americans, however, I will now have considerably more time available in the immediate future. You can thusly expect a possible update on my other story, _Dimensions and Realities_ , in the coming weekend.

Assuming that I won't be distracted with my supposedly large birthday present, of course!

Happy birthday to me yesterday, by the way.

And, perhaps more importantly, happy Turkey Day yesterday as well! Though, it's probably a bit late for that…

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Nineteen: The Pokémon Professor

* * *

The first thing that Marza became aware of upon entering the professor's laboratory (' _Sounds like I_ ' _m going in a mad scientist_ ' _s mansion_ …') was the absolute _maelstrom_ that was the collection of the piles of objects lying upon the floor. She had to carefully tip-toe her way around the piles to even get a few door past the doorway, and she hesitantly called out, "Excuse me? Is Professor Elm here?"

A prompt exclamation followed, along with the sounds of several objects simultaneously crashing to the floor. "Uh, y-yes! Sorry, just let me…"

Some shuffling noises, before a young-ish man emerged from a door to the left. If Marza were made to guess, she'd estimate his age to be around the range of his mid-twenties, what with his lack of, say, wrinkles or graying hair. Speaking of, his color of hair was an off-brown shade, and his glasses were tipped unevenly to one side, as if he had just emerged from a rather hectic moment and forgotten about appearing proper.

That issue was rescinded with a single upward push of a finger, and he next said, "Sorry about that! One of the Pokémon intended for the new Trainers was getting a bit rowdy and surprised me, hence the noise…"

And out came the likely culprit just as that sentence was finished. It was a blue, bipedal being that reminded the girl distinctly of an alligator or crocodile, with a yellow stripe running through its center and bright red spines emerging its… _spine_. It was giggling softly, stubby fingers reaching up in a futile attempt to stifle the noise. It was likely chortling in the first place because of the previously mentioned antics it had gotten up to.

The good professor explained in response to the quirked brow of Marza's, "That's Totodile. Definitely the prankster of the three starter Pokémon we have at the moment, though he's… how to word it…"

The newly revealed male Pokémon momentarily glanced up at the unfamiliar human before throwing caution to the wind, leaping at her face, jaws stretched opened as it _continued_ to laugh.

Oscura intercepted him mid-leap, barreling into him and sending the two of them crashing into the ground. They then began to roughly tumble along the floor in a comedic manner, scratching and biting each other all the while, just adding to the silliness. Marza stepped in after a few seconds of this, carefully extended both hands out to separate the two monsters.

Marza and Oscura both were unpleasantly surprised when the Totodile sprayed water into their faces, the surprise of which reflexively forcing Marza letting the amphibious Pokémon escape from her grip and flee.

It was _still_ laughing as it ran off.

The human and the Pokémon immediately decided that he was incredibly obnoxious and should be ignored whenever possible.

It appeared to take Elm several moments to realize what had just happened.

"… Ah, sorry? Again? He's a pretty mischievous one. Trust me when I say that he means well, though."

Marza sincerely doubted his words, and, though hands that were currently busy wiping her face dry, said, none too _dryly_ : "Whatever floats your boat, I suppose."

Elm chuckled, and it was only then that Marza realized her unintentional play on words. After stifling his laughter, Elm spoke: "Anyways, I presume that you're here to pick up a Pokédex? You don't look as if you need a starter Pokémon, what with that Larvitar. Where e _ver_ did you acquire it, by the way? Mount Silver is quite a dangerous place to be, especially for any person without even a _single_ Gym Badge."

Marza was hesitant to answer. After several seconds of thinking, she responded, "… You could say that she was a gift."

Then her eyes widened, and, with a touch of rage, added, "Also, Oscura is female. She isn't _mine_ , either. She's hardly a possession, you know, nor are any living things."

Elm was uncertain as to how to respond to that retort. He definitely wasn't expecting such a scathing remark coming from practically nowhere.

"… Sorry? _Again_? It's just that…"

A small sigh.

"Well, I suppose that it's just how everyone words it these days. People acknowledge that Pokémon aren't _actually_ theirs; it's just that, at some point in time – around the invention of the first Poké Balls, I think – people just started proclaiming captured Pokémon as their own. I believe that it's hardly today's generation's fault that that's just how things went and stuck."

Marza thought about this for a few seconds, memorizing the term "Poké Ball" for future questioning and discovery, before responding, "Well, if you say so, I can't really blame you. Just those of the past."

Marza, briefly coughed, realizing just how awkward she had made this initially well-meaning encounter.

"A-Anyways. I came here to ask a few questions, not to be confrontational on otherwise irrelevant subjects."

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Professor Elm_ ' _s Laboratory_

The good professor appeared to be a tad cheered up by this reveal.

"Well, feel free to ask away then, Marza!" he exclaimed, pulling up a pair of chairs through that rabble covering the floor for the pair of humans to sit on. Once they were seated (with Oscura hopping onto Marza's lap), the lass began:

"First of all, people have been mentioning a "Pokédex" a lot to me lately. What precisely is a Pokédex?"

Elm put a hand to his chin, evidently thinking upon how to phrase his response.

"Well, Marza, a Pokédex is sort of like an encyclopedia, except for the fact that it's based around Pokémon species and information centered around them rather than simply words. It gives you their name, typical height and weight, Typing… Things of that nature."

"You mentioned Typing. Mind explaining that to me, Professor?"

His glasses momentarily went askew in a comical manner at this inquiry.

' _How does she_ not _know what a Pokémon_ ' _s Typing is_?'

He was polite enough to not voice this thought, however, and, after setting his glasses straight, said next: "Well, a Pokémon's Typing refers to its…. I suppose you could say elemental affinity. There are Water-type Pokémon, like the Totodile from a bit earlier, as well as Fire, Grass, Electric… the list goes on, with eighteen Types total. Your Larvitar, if you're wondering, is a Ground and Rock-type, which means that she is very, _very_ weak against Water and Grass Type Moves."

"What do you mean by "weak against?'"

A certain gleam entered the coated scientist's eyes; he always _did_ enjoy a good lecture.

"Well, Typing is important in every Pokémon because it dictates what Moves – which is to say, attacks – they can generally learn and use when in combat, as well as what they are capable of shrugging off or being heavily injured by – or, in a few select cases, such as Ground Moves versus Flying-types, not connecting altogether. The Moves themselves also have typing, as you may have gotten at already. Let's go back to Totodile again; he has a move called Water Gun, which, perhaps obviously enough, is a Water-type attack. As Oscura is of the Ground and Rock-typing, she would take a rather large amount of damage from such an attack. Even thoroughly learned professors such as us, who have been studying the nature and functions of Pokémon, don't quite know the specifics as to how such a system works. We _do_ know, however, that the basics come from general logic."

He chuckled for a moment.

"Well, at least, relatively speaking, because some Type match-ups just make _so little sense_. Back to Totodile, hpwever! Let's metaphorically pit him versus Oscura; you know that water deteriorates away at stone and changes the terrain over time, sometimes rather quickly, yes?"

A nod from the sapphire-eyed lass.

"As such, Water Moves would work very well at incapacitating her. However, if, say, an Electric-type Move would connect with Oscura, it would do practically nothing. Electricity can't find any sort of conductivity in the ground, you see, thusly dealing very little damage, if even any to begin with."

Another nod from Marza, though this one was a bit more in comprehension that the previous.

"I think I've got it down, yeah. There are Water and Electric-types, yes? So, if an Electric Move were to hit a Pokémon that has Water as a Typing, it would be rather effective?"

"You've grasped the concept rather quickly, haven't you? Why, yes, that would indeed be the case. You will also want to remember that many Pokémon have two Types, which means that one Type-based weakness might cancel out another's, or, in some cases, make their weaknesses even worse, as I have said with Oscura. Keep in mind that sufficiently powerful Grass or Water Moves may defeat her in one hit as a result of her specific combination of Typing!"

Speaking of, the Rock Skin Pokémon appeared to be rather indignant about being made such an example of, saying a "Lar!" to express this.

"Don't go getting mad about this, Oscura. They're just facts that we'll have to be careful of and learn to get around."

The other female appeared to still be irked, but this statement placated her some.

"That's the spirit, Marza! Now, was there anything else you wished to discuss?"

"Yes, actually. Why is it that aspects of battling between Pokémon are discussed so much? Is battling between Pokémon some sort of sport, or…?"

Elm's eyes involuntarily widened behind his re-skewed glasses.

' _This girl just might be the most sheltered person I have ever had the opportunity to meet_ … _Ah_ , _well_! _A chance to teach is a chance to teach_ , _and I will gladly take it_!'

"Well, it's just as much a sport as it is a past-time or a hobby, but, yes, battling between Pokémon is certainly a prominent thing across most all of the world. Depending on how skilled you are at it, you can actually obtain much fame and wealth from it. It should come to no one's surprise, then, that most people your age are aspiring to obtain Gym Badges and become the very best to get these things."

Marza's eyes perked in interest, but, in a contradictory manner, asked, "Wouldn't the Pokémon themselves not want to fight, though? I can easily imagine that some Pokémon wouldn't want to fight, and not all of us humans are the best of people…"

A small grin grew on Elm' features for the first part, then went to a frown for the second. "Oh, but you see, Marza, it's actually in most Pokémons' natures to fight. It is how the majority of Pokémon grow stronger, after all, and that, too, is a perfectly natural and normal drive in most of them. As such, we don't really need to push them all that much to fight. And as for us not being the best of people… Well, that is undeniably true. Some push their Pokémon too much, or force them into fighting. Some even capture Pokémon illegally, or just do not give them the chance to refuse the "offer" to go with them. That is why we have a rather extensive police and justice system, however! It's really little wonder that most criminals don't get away actions, you see! Not even the infamous Team Rocket from three years ago could stand against the might of justice presented by kind-hearted, well-meaning Pokémon Trainers!"

Marza backed off a step or two; Elm was getting more than a little excited by his own story-telling, it would seem, gesticulating wildly and striking a dramatic pose at his last sentence. He quickly realized what he was doing, however, and stepped off of the random piece of equipment he was standing on top of.

"Erm… Sorry, Marza. I tend to get a bit caught up in my lessons, if you couldn't already tell. Any more questions?"

"Just one more, I think, though it'll probably have several more follow-ups. Which means that it isn't _actually_ one question, obviously, so what am I even…"

One of Professor Elm's brows was raised, Marza noticed.

"Sorry, I tend to deviate a bit when I realize that a break in logic has occured. Anyways, what I was about to ask was relating to these "Gym Badges" that you've mentioned once or twice. What are those about?"

The Professor was once again happy to explain, it would seem.

"The Gym Badges are these little pendants that you receive upon defeating a Gym Leader in a Pokémon Battle. The Gym Leaders are a band of particularly powerful trainers scattered throughout the individual regions of the world; you need eight Gym Badges from them to participate in the annual Pokémon League Tournament. For Johto, where we are in right now, as well as our neighboring region, Kanto, the Pokémon League lies on one of the most dangerous places of both regions: Mount Silver.

"… Well, as of recently, anyways. The Indigo Plateau, which lied on Mount Silver's eastern rim, and also where the Tournaments were formerly held, collapsed a year and a half back, so the location had to be changed.

"Where was I? Ah, yes… If you are the last one standing in the Tournament, you get the opportunity to battle the Elite Four: the four strongest Trainers of their designated area. Beat them? And you get to fight the single strongest Trainer of the region, as well as on of the strongest Trainers in the entire world: the Champion. Defeat even the _Champion_? And you, too, shall become one, acquiring a rather hefty amount of fame and fortune in the process.

"If you're looking to be the next Champion – which, mind you, is an _incredibly_ lofty goal – them your first step will be to get a Trainer's License from a Pokémon Center. There's one in Cherrygrove City, which is just a few miles away. The Pokémon Centers, if you're wondering, are buildings where you can get your Pokémon healed up to perfect health for absolutely free! You can also pick up your Trainer's License for that same, non-existent price."

The lass put a curious finger to her chin, patting it a couple of times. She spent several seconds in pensive silence before finally announcing:

"Well, the whole Trainer thing _does_ sound interesting. Becoming a good Trainer is not really why I am here, either, but maybe having money and protectors _does_ sound appealing… Tracking that man down will doubtless be difficult without those, and he appeared to be rather dangerous… Well, I suppose that I may as well. I hardly expect to get as far as becoming a Champion – probably not even close, now that I seriously consider the odds – but it if it helps me achieve my ultimatum, I see no reason not to."

Elm clasped his hands in joy.

"Very good, Marza! Though, I don't think that your motives are any of my business, I still must ask: who is this man, and why are you looking for him? You said that he was dangerous, as well; should you not be calling the authorities if this is the case…?"

Marza merely shook her head, saying, "In your order of saying: You are correct when you said that this is none of your business, I don't truly know, he is up to something incredibly suspicious, and I would rather not get them involved in I don't have to. I may tell you later if I feel the need; trust me when I say that I can handle this alone."

The Pokémon Professor looked at Marza for a relatively long time, before saying, "… If you insist."

He shuffled through the virtual sea of miscellaneous tools, getting to the desk at the end of the room and taking a somewhat small, bright red device into a hand from a small pile of the things. Scuffling back towards Marza, he held it out for her to take. She did so, examining it closely from a multitude of angles after that action.

"This, Marza, is one of the latest versions of the Pokédex. If you would be so kind as to flip it open…"

She did as Elm had requested, and was met with a rather bright screen.

"The Pokédex, as I have already said, is an encyclopedia on Pokémon. Or, at least, it _will_ be once you've seen enough a large enough amount of different Pokémon species. You see, the Pokédex automatically creates entries and data upon sighting a Pokémon, but _only_ once that happens. It's up to _you_ to travel the world and catalogue the varying Pokémon species, of which there are many. _Hundreds_ of Pokémon await for you to discover, Marza! _Are you ready for the adventure of your life_!?"

He was getting up in her face, a slightly manic smile "gracing" his features.

"… I guess? Elm, would you _please_ back off?"

He did so with all due haste when he realized he was once again getting incredibly excited.

"Sorry, sorry! In all due seriousness, though, Marza, feel free to embark if you wish…"

And, suddenly, a few rings sounded out from one of his numerous coat pockets. Pulling his phone-esque device out, he answered the call.

"Hello?"

…

"Oh, Mister Pokémon! How are you doing today?"

…

"That's good to hear. What is it that you called me for?"

…

"A package?"

…

"Well, I'm a bit busy, and I'm expecting the other two starter Pokémon any minute now… Hmm…"

…

"No, no! It's fine! Tell you what: I'll send someone over to pick it up. I believe that she's trustworthy enough for this…"

…

"Right! Talk to you again soon!"

 _Click_.

Marza frowned softly, yet dangerously.

"… You just made me your errand girl, didn't you?"

Elm appeared simultaneously nervous and guilty at her evidently correct guess.

"Sorry, sorry! It's just that Mister Pokémon – _yes_ , I _know_ , that name is _really_ silly – was rather eager about whatever he has for me. You'll be compensated for it if you want…"

Marza couldn't help but sigh.

"No, it's fine. I'll do it. I'll be heading out shortly, anyways. Where does this "Mister Pokémon" live?"

The man was relieved at her patience.

"He lives just beyond Cherrygrove City, at the very end of Route Thirty. He lives in a rather… _flamboyant_ building. You'll recognize it on sight, trust me."

"If you say so. Well, if you'll excuse me, I believe that I have places to be, as well as things to do…"

Elm bid the lass a farewell, waving as she exited the door, Oscura in her hands as she closed the door behind her with a tap of a foot.

'… _I sincerely hope that whatever she_ ' _s getting into involved with this_ " _dangerous man_ " _doesn_ ' _t put her at risk_ …'

* * *

From his position in the woods, the red-haired boy grinned as she spotted the girl he had previously been following leave the laboratory of the scientist. He chuckled in an eager manner at this, muttering, " _Finally_ … It's time to make my move…!"

And, after making sure that no one was nearby, he did what he came to New Bark Town to do…


	22. Chapter Twenty: First Steps on the Road

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

A shout-out to one joycewu333 for the Review! Yes, t'was foreshadowed with Marza getting a Second Generation Pokémon that she would be arriving in Johto! And "good work" you say? Well, I shall try!

… I have more or less turn out of stuff to say here besides shout-outs. Either way, read onwards!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty: First Steps on the Road

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal_ _Version_ soundtrack – _Route 29_

After stepping out of the door, Marza couldn't help but notice the chilling gust of wind that accompanied her departure from the building.

' _It_ ' _s almost as if the world is trying really_ , really _hard to get across the whole_ " _winds of change_ " _theme_ – _in which case_ , yes, _universe_ , I get it.'

The wind, almost as if prompted, died down at the end of that thought. Marza barely held back her scoff at this potential coincidence, and, after a bit of squirming from the Pokémon, placed her back on the ground.

"Well, if you want to hop back on, feel free to ask, Oscura."

She nodded, and finally, the two headed to the town's exit, intent on accomplishing the task that the professor had given to them.

Upon leaving the town via the threshold just after the welcoming sign, someone crashed into Marza – quite literally, at that. Both were sent flying to the ground, and after regaining her bearings, the lass looked at the perpetrator of this act.

It turned out to just be Lyra.

Marza was thoroughly unsurprised by this revelation.

"I assume that this was an accident, Lyra?" said the sapphire-eyed lass, incapable of keeping a touch of irritance out of her voice.

"Oh! Um, sorry again, Marza! It's just that Marill and I've finally gotten permission to leave New Bark Town and go on our journey, so we just kind of starting sprinting out of town as fast as possible… Not really watching where I was going… And somehow not seeing you in my say…"

The young woman exhaled before saying in response: "Well, again, your apology is accepted. But, ah… You said that Marill came with you. Where is she…?"

And just as that was said, she came into sight, clearly panting in exertion from her previous running. She glared up at her Trainer, as if demanding some rather hefty retribution for leaving her behind.

"I know that I've been saying this a lot lately, but still: Sorry, Marill!"

After an additional moment of being puffed up, the Pokémon deflated with a sigh, shaking her head – or, rather, her entire body – at her trainer's general clumsiness. Lyra herself sighed in relief at their collective forgiveness.

"Thanks, guys. I know that I'm more than a little bit of a klutz…"

"Yes, you certainly are. You may want to work on that, in fact."

Yet another sigh, this one dejected.

"I _know_ …"

Marza nodded, and next said, "That little fiasco aside, though. Is there anything that you wished to talk to me about? Because if the answer is no, I have places to be. It's starting to get late, you know."

For indeed, the sunset was just beginning to make itself apparent, the trees becoming lit in an orange glow as the light reached them.

"Well… I figured that you're a new trainer… So I thought, "Does she know how Poké Balls work? Does she know what to do if a Pokémon or trainer comes up to her, looking for a fight?" And then I decided to come looking for you in case you didn't, however unlikely those thoughts are."

Marza felt a touch of appreciation sneak into her heart.

' _She_ ' _s really quite nice_ , _isn_ ' _t she_? _It_ ' _s almost adorable_ , _what with her combination of that and her clumsiness_ … _Well_ , _may as well take her up on her offer_ …'

"That would be appreciated, thank you."

Lyra just about jumped for joy at this before piping down and taking a deep, calming intake of air.

"Alrighty, then! Well, first thing's first: we've gotta get a bit further out to find some wild Pokémon. Then I can show you what to do when you encounter one or a Trainer. C'mon!"

Marza nodded, following after Lyra, Oscura and Marill tagging along with them as they progressed further along Route 29.

T'was another half-hour before Lyra halted in her tracks, stopping just before a group of patches of relatively tall grass.

"Most wild Pokémon will jump out at you if you approach or are in the tall grass, as well as trees, rocks, and the like. Trust me when I say that Pokémon can be hiding in many places, Marza, so always, _always_ be prepared for both surprises and fights at any time!"

Another nod of understanding from the lass.

"Now, if I can just find a Pokémon so I can show you the juicy bits and thrills of travelling…"

And then, some prompt rustles from a grass patch to the left.

"A-hah! Found one! C'mon, Marill!"

She came forth as requested; Marza watched in trepidation as the noise became louder and louder, until…

A bird came out. Marza was fairly certain that it was a bird, at least; it had comparatively large, cartoon-y eyes, a plumage Marza hadn't yet seen on any bird back on Earth, and was definitely on the small side, but it still looked like a bird of some sort.

Remembering the device that she had received not an hour earlier, Marza took out her Pokédex from a pocket. After apparently scanning the area for a brief moment, it displayed:

"Pokédex Number Sixteen: Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. Typing: Normal-Flying. Ability: Keen Eye. It rapidly flaps its wings in the grass, stirring up a dust cloud that drives insect prey out into the open."

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Eighty-Three: Marill, the Aqua Mouse Pokémon. Typing: Water-Fairy. Ability: Huge Power. Marill's oil-filled tail acts much like a life preserver. If you just see its tail bobbing on the water's surface, it's a sure indicator that this Pokémon is diving beneath the water to feed on aquatic plants."

"Pokédex Number Two Hundred Forty-Six: Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokémon. Typing: Rock-Ground. Ability: Sand Veil. It feeds on soil. After it has eaten a large mountain, it will fall asleep so it can grow."

Marza's brows rose at the dubious description in Larvatar's description, as well as the Abilities sections.

' _A large_ mountain? _I don_ ' _t think so_... _And what are these_ "Abilities" _supposed to be_?'

She was taken away from her thoughts when Lyra announced, "A Pidgey? This ought to be easy, then!"

It appeared to take offense to this statement (and understandably so), giving out a loud squawk before flying head-first at Lyra's partner!

"Defend yourself with a Water Gun, Marill!"

The Water-Type spouted a stream of water that, judging by the bird-like Pokémon's squawk of pain, was of a surprisingly high velocity. It spent a moment or two attempting to get the water out of its eyes (' _Is that stuff_ salty?'), flinging sand and dirt around in random directions, during which Lyra again called, "Now, Tackle it!"

With a(n adorable) battle cry, Marill charged forth, dodging the bursts of sand and giving it a fierce full-body blow, sending both of them toppling to the ground. Marill leaped off of the poor avian, said Pokémon evidently unconscious after just a few attacks. The victor huffed haughtily at her win, puffing up slightly in pride.

"Good job, Marill! That's basically how most Pokémon battles go; both Pokémon keep attacking each other until one goes down. And if it's a wild Pokémon – which is to say, one that is not in the possession of a Trainer – is defeated, then you can catch it, like so…!"

Lyra grabbed a small sphere – red on the top, white on the bottom, with a black line around it's radius as well as a button on this line – and, after taking a bit of time to aim her shot, she chucked the ball with vigor.

It bopped against the Pidgey's head with a strange noise, and, to Marza's bewilderment, enveloped the Pokémon in a transparent red light before opening up, transforming the Pokémon into light of the same appearance before absorbing it and closing itself automatically, dropping to the ground with a small "clank".

Lyra appeared rather caught up in the moment, gazing nervously at the dual-colored ball as it shook once…

Twice…

Thrice…

 _Click_!

"Gotcha! I caught the Pidgey!" She literally jumped for joy, giving herself a thumbs up in celebration.

"And _that_ , Marza, is how battling and the capturing of Pokémon generally goes! You've gotta weaken the Pokémon before trying to catch it; otherwise, it'll probably just break out of the Poké ball! Any questions? Again?"

"… Mechanics of the Poké Ball itself aside, I do not believe so, except for this one: Are you entirely sure that capturing the Pokémon is simply alright with it?"

Lyra put a hand to her chin and tapped it a couple of times, humming thoughtfully at the inquiry.

"Well… That's actually a pretty deep question, isn't it? Most Pokémon tend to come out and approach us looking for a fight, right? Most Pokémon have realized by this point that, either way, win or lose, they'll got stronger. If they win? More strength. If they lose? They'll probably be captured and trained by their new Trainers, getting stronger that way. It's a win-win, you see! But, if people come looking for Pokémon who don't want to be captured…"

A shrug.

"Well, that's one of the things that the authorities are meant to fix, aren't they? Helping unwilling Pokémon get away from their unwanted Trainers."

Marza let out a hum of her own at this answer.

"Speaking of releasing Pokémon, you can do so by holding down the button on the Poké Ball for ten straight seconds. You _could_ just let the Pokémon out of the ball, but that would prevent others from catching that same Pokémon. Poké Balls use this complicated marking mechanisms which makes it so that for one Pokémon is already registered to one, they can't be caught by another, which helps prevent stealing."

She demonstrated the process, holding the button on the sphere for the alloted time. After this, the Pidgey broke out in a burst of blue light. After a brief glance to Lyra, it flew off, twittering to itself momentarily before leaving both earshot and sight.

"… I suppose that that _is_ a system that would work, at least for the most part."

Lyra nodded emphatically. "Yup! Anyways, it's starting to get dark out, so we should hurry on to Cherrygrove!"

And away she went without any warning, heading in the direction of the now-setting sun, virtually sprinting off and leaving Marza in the metaphorical dust. The lass didn't even get the chance to tell her to slow down; she couldn't hope to keep up with her seemingly impossible amount of energy, and before Marza knew it, the other girl was out of sight, as was her Marill partner after the Aqua Mouse gave an exasperated sigh.

Marza exhaled, herself, saying to Oscura, "Well, looks as if we're by ourselves for the rest of this little trip, huh?"

The female Pokémon nodded in affirmation, taking a few steps closer and giving Marza a few pats on the leg. Marza gave Oscura a few pats of her own before setting out…

Or, at least, she would have were it not for the loud, childish "Hold it!" that rang out.

Out came a young lad from behind a nearby tree, wearing blue pants and an equally blue cap as well as a yellow shirt, the Poké Ball in his hand raised high into the air as if to appear intimidating.

"I'm Joey, and since our eyes have met, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"


	23. Chapter Twenty-One: First Fight

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Oh, man, Quagsire12, does he _wish_. He wishes _so hard_ …

And a word or two of thanks to The Nova Writer for the Favorite and Follow! 'Tis appreciated!

… Whoops, nothing to say here again besides the obligatory shout-outs. I may want to come up with something, besides, of course:

 _Happy Christmas_ in the near-future, for those who happen to celebrate it, and happy holidays to those who do not!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-One: First Fight

* * *

The appearance of this kid rather startled Marza, and she cried, "Wha – You can't just come out of the blue and _do that_!"

Joey sniffed impudently, not appearing to care for her words.

"Yeah, I can! The kids and I at school do it _all the time_! Anyways, you've gotta fight my Rattata and I! It's top-percentage, y'know!"

"And who says I _have_ to?"

The kid let out a bark of laughter.

"Well, besides me? Almost _everyone_ who would want to fight you! It's your pride and duty as a Trainer to fight someone who issues you a challenge!"

He grinned at Marza sardonically, next saying slyly, "Unless you're a wussie…?"

Marza smiled back.

"I'll have you know that I am no coward, and that I am also aware that you're trying to play me. But I'll go along with it, regardless!"

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Battle_! ( _Trainer_ )

"Alright! Go, Rattata! Show this girl who's boss, and why you're among the top percentage or Rattata!"

The ball he threw popped open, revealing what was clearly a rat-like Pokémon with a purple back and a creamy bottom, a tail that curled into an end protruding from its behind.

Marza promptly took out her Pokédex, and it read, "Pokédex Number Nineteen: Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. Typing: Normal. Ability: Guts. Bites anything when it attacks. Small and very quick, it is a common sight in many places."

' _Hmm_ … _Seems easy enough to beat_ … _This_ is _our first battle_ , _though_ , _so we had best not be reckless_!'

"Get over there, Oscura! Show this kid what you're made of!"

' _That being more or less_ solid rock,' though Marza, grinning internally and externally. ' _Probably less_ , _actually_. _I mean_ , doubtless _she has organs and such_ , _so_ –"

"Tackle 'em, Rattata!"

' _Aw_ , _geez_! _Focus_ , _Marza_!'

"Oscura! Defend yourself!" she commanded, not really certain as to what Moves Oscura possessed.

Rat monster met rock monster, the forming roughly attempting to shove the latter to the ground with little success. It was rather comical, really – Oscura was a touch heavier than she looked, and, as such, hardly even suffered a loss of balance from the strike.

She then picked up the rat-like Pokémon with utmost ease, raising it up into the air before, slamming it effortlessly into the dirt, a small grunt of effort leaving her mouth as she chucked it down.

Seeing as how Oscura was hardly what anyone would consider tall – at least, relative to humans and such – the height itself hardly served to fulfill the purpose of harm. The raw _force_ , however…

"Oh, shoot! Rattata! You alright over there!?"

Joey and Marza both were not sure of the status of the Mouse Pokémon due to the small dust cloud that had emerged because of Oscura's assault, but after a second or so, it sprang out from it, bruises already appearing here and there on its body. It let out an enthusiastic cry, still appearing willing and mostly able to battle.

"Alright! Go for a Quick Attack next; see if that'll do any better!"

"I'm hearing "ifs" already? Maybe this is a fight that you shouldn't've gotten into if you're already doubting you and your partner!" Marza bit, intended to make him lose his cool.

The lad was certainly appearing to be peeved by her snarky words. "Yeah, well, we'll see you be so smart-aleck-y when I kick yer' butt! Give this attack all you've got, Rattata!"

' _Hook_ , _line_ , _and sinker_ , _especially if he was serious about that_ " _everything you_ ' _ve got_ " _part_ …'

The Mouse Pokémon pawed at the ground thrice, glaring as fiercely as it could at the Rock Skin Pokémon, before it once again charged forth. This time, however, it attacked with near-blinding speed, making the tiny Pokémon appear as if it were a blur of silver charging at Oscura.

Oscura was taken by surprise with the raw speed of the attack, not even having the chance to even raise her arms in defense as it barreled into her, succeeding this time in knocking her down.

"Nice one, Rattata! Keep attacking; don't let 'em get up!"

"Come on, Oscura! Don't let something so tiny get the better of you so easily!"

After a few blows, Oscura managed to wrest the Mouse Pokémon off of her person. She appeared only slightly worse for wear than before; with a huff, she glared at the Rattata. Remembering her previous experience with this stare, Marza knew that it would practically freeze her opposition into something as still as an ice sculpture.

"Good thinking, Oscura! Now, sic 'em!"

The Rock Skin Pokémon did precisely that, running in and, in a surprisingly intelligent move, slowed just before making contact, ducking and placing her horn under the rat-like Pokémon's body. With a somewhat loud grunt of effort, she chucked her opponent into the air. The Pokémon was sent flying for three whole seconds, and it was scrabbling about in the air frantically as well as comically. Oscura reared back, head bent and body bent, and just when it was about to land, she gave the Rattata a fierce, horn-tipped head butt.

The wind was knocked out of the purple-on-cream Pokémon, and when it _actually_ landed, it was very clearly incapable of continuing the fight, gasping on the grassy ground, a bruise already becoming rather prominent on its belly.

" _No_! _Rattata_!"

Marza watched, guilt stabbing at her heart as she watched Joey rush over to his partner, cradling it in his arms, concern being the only thing noticeable on his features. Oscura, too, watched, panting softly as she rubbed at the bruises that were already beginning to form upon her skin.

"C'mon, Rattata! Speak to me! Tell me you're alright!?"

Slowly, its eyes opened from their previously closed state, and it gave its trainer a re-assuring nuzzle. The Youngster returned the gesture with _gusto_ , giving it an affectionate cuddle, pleased and alleviated smile on his face.

Marza reluctantly walked over, as did Oscura. Hesitantly doing so, she next said, "Ah… Oscura and I are sorry for roughing your Rattata up. Is it going to be okay…?"

The boy gave a small sniff.

"Yeah, Rattata ought to be fine after a trip to the Pokémon Center. Mom says I've always got to remember to thank Nurse Joy when she heals up Rattata, but I don't think I've gotta; I say "thanks" nearly every time I see her…"

' _Nurse Joy_? _Hope she doesn_ ' _t get made fun of too often because of that undeniably silly name_ … _But why is it that he_ ' _s even telling me about this in the first place_...?'

"Well, that's good to hear," she said next, uncertain as to what to speak of besides that.

A brief, awkward silence ensued.

"Uh… You gonna leave now, or what?"

Marza stuttered, "Oh, um, yeah, sorry. I'm socially awkward at times…"

That being said, she rose from her crouching position, beckoning the Rock Skin Pokémon over. She hopped into her arms, rubbing at her sternum affectionately, and Marza gave the Pokémon a few rewarding pats on the head before she turned around.

"See you later, possibly…"

And then they left, the Youngster waving them as they walked off, following after the sunset and Lyra's direction. A small tingle being felt in both of their hearts at their first battle and first victory.

Joey, meanwhile, slowly sat up, still clutching his Rattata tightly.

"She's definitely a bit weird… She _was_ pretty nice, though…" Joey mumbled, a miniscule smile on his features at her previous show of courtesy.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Two: Tiring Treks

Author's _Note_ :

Sorry, guys 'n' gals! I just sorta took winter break off from… well, just about everything besides video games, really. My sloth gets the better of me yet again, it would seem…!

Shout-out to Quagsire12 (no, it is not, and will probably never be in this story) as well as to UNinja12 and Eeveefan1290 for their mutual Follow and Favorite. The attention is appreciated as always!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ _and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them._

* * *

 _Of Children_ _,_ _Men_ _,_ _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Two: Tiring Treks

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Cherrygrove City_

It took Marza approximately one more half of an hour to get to Cherrygrove City. Contrary to the "City" part of the title, it was actually quite small – a decently sized village is what the girl thought it to be at its potential largest.

'I know that the non-town /city parts of names are sometimes shared across places – hence the re-usage – but making a name such an obvious oxymoron to differentiate the two seems just a touch stupid…' concluded Marza. For indeed, the place consisted of no more than four dozen buildings. What especially caught Marza's eyes, however, was the brightly colored orange building, as well as the bright blue building just next door to it. A sign bearing a very clearly intentional resemblance to a Poké Ball was noticeable on the building's sloped roof, which went flat in its center.

Marza realized rather swiftly that the primarily orange structure must be the Pokémon Center that was previously mentioned to her. Before she could finally – finally! – end her day's trek, though, an old man came running up to her with a surprising amount of speed. His very presence reeked of eccentrism, and Marza prayed to no deity in particular that this person was not some creep. Oscura, too, appeared weary, stepping in front of Marza protectively, but Marza shook her head. The Rock Skin Pokémon backed off as requested with a huff, attempting to cross her stubby little arms but failing to do so, as they were too short for the undertaking. The other female barely stifled her would-be snort at this, and when the bearded, blue-shirted man drew close, he spoke to Marza:

"Well, hiya there, kiddo! You remind me a lot of this other girl who ran by a few minutes ago!"

"In what respect?" she inquired, both genuinely curious and weary.

"Why, you both look like newbies to the whole "trainer" thing! And judging by my keen intuition – it's hardly ever wrong when it comes to these sorts of things, y'see – I am completely right! C'mon, kiddo, let's show you the ropes and sights of Cherrygrove!"

"Uh – I don't really think–"

But he was already sprinting off, turning back to glance at her only when he was (somehow already) a couple dozen feet in front of her. She sighed morosely, beginning only now to truly regret taking up that enigmatic man's offer.

'I just hope that this world doesn't consist only of people with these over-exaggerated…traits… Guess I'd better follow after him – I don't think that he's one to be easily dissuaded, and I suppose that it's only polite that I take him up on his generous offer, no matter how pointless it will likely be in the end…'

"If you insist…"

Thusly was how she was shown around town by an overly eccentric, potentially crazy man.

Needless to say, really, but Marza was having quite the first day in this unfamiliar, alien world.

The man appeared fairly angsty as Marza sluggishly trotted over to the building he was standing in front of, as she was once again tired of all of this blasted walking, especially considering her not-so-athletic, relatively scrawny nature.

"This, my girl, is the Pokémon Center! Stop by here to receive your Trainer's License and–!"

"Heal up my partner Pokémon for free, yes," Marza cut off, just wanting to get her day over and done with.

"Looks as if you know your stuff, kiddo!" he replied, thankfully not appearing annoyed.

He next sprinted over to the neighboring building, saying to Marza when she again drew close: "And this, lassie, is the Poké Mart! Here, you can buy various wares, most all of which are extremely handy for any Pokémon Trainer to possess and use! As your collection of more Gym Badges expands, so, too, will the wares of these stores. So, be sure to stop by every now and then and shop a bit!"

Next up was a trek to the shoreline. Marza made a mental note to stop by here later, take her shoes off, and walk around bare-footed in the sand: walking in the stuff was a sensation she had yet to experience, and she was rather curious about it.

"This is the sea, y'see?"

Before Marza could even open her mouth to rebuke him, he continued:

"Well, obviously it's the sea. I'm just showing you this to remind you that Pokémon can be found just about everywhere. In fact…"

A few splashes came from the water's surface, and yet another new Pokémon emerged. It had large, red lips, a reddish-orange-on-white coloration, and a small, sharp horn emerging from its forehead.

"Great timing as usual, Goldeen! Here is your reward…"

He took a small pouch out from his left pants-pocket, spraying a few small pellets – likely food – onto the water. Just before the Pokémon re-submerged, Marza took out her Pokédex. It recorded the following data:

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Eighteen: Goldeen, the Goldfish Pokémon. Typing: Water. Ability: Water Veil. It swims upstream no matter the speed of the opposing current at a steady five knots. If it senses danger, it will strike back with its sharp horn."

The man appeared to barely even take notice of her drvice, continuing on to a building that was a decent deal smaller than the previous two. It looked rather normal, as if it were a residential home rather than, for example, a building serving the sole purpose of selling wares. And that was because…

"This is my humble abode! Why am I showing you this? Because I simply can!"

He let out a somewhat loud bellow concluding this statement.

'And not, say, to spite my incredibly sore feet…?

"That concludes my lil' tour of Cherrygrove City! Any questions, my girl?"

The lass simply shook her head, by this point eager to sit herself down on a comfy bed and head off to Dreamland.

"Alrighty, then! I'll be inside if you decide you want another one of my tours!"

He then opened the door and retired to his home, promptly closing the door behind him. Marza wasted nary a second after this, slowly walking over to the Pokémon Center, Oscura in tow. The automated, glass-made doors slid open when she drew near to them, and she, too, headed indoors to rest.

Not before once again being intercepted by someone, however. This time, it was a familiar brunnete, crashing into her for – what was it? – the third time?

"Has anyone ever told you to work on your reflexes? You probably saw me on the other side of the door, as well as its opening several seconds in advance, and this still ended up happening!"

Lyra chuckled uncertainly. "Actually, yeah. I've been doing a few exercises just before I go to sleep, in fact!"

"And what, preciswly, do these "exercises" entail?"

And so Lyra elaborated, "Well, it's actually pretty simple. So, I have this stopwatch, right? And I set it to a few seconds, and what I do is stop the clock as soon as it gets to the set time! Again, pretty simple, right?"

Marza sighed. "… That is a timing exercise, not a reflexive one!" She barely held back the additional "you dolt" at the end.

"… Is it? That would explain the lack of improvement for my reflexes despite using it for nearly a year daily… Oops…?" She said next, a singular finger upon her cheek and a pout on her mouth, as if she genuinely had not realized that at some earlier date.

Marza now felt like groaning. "Just… try something else? I'm not the biggest fan of being knocked around and to the ground, especially when it happens thrice a day."

"Will do!" said Lyra with cheer, finishing up this topic of conversation.

"Why is it that you were practically sprinting for the door in the first place?"

The other girl seemed rather enthused about this particular explanation. "Okay, so, I was going out in the first place to look for you – you were taking your time getting here – and I crashed into you a minute or so ago on the way! And here we are, talking to each other! Speaking of which, I assume you don't know how to get your Trainer's License?"

'An assumption in not knowing something? That would be rude, were it not for the fact that she is true… Unintentional rhyming aside, however…'

"Indeed, I do not. Would you care to show me the process?"

"Would I ever!"

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Pokémon Center_

Lyra waved her fellow lass over, and she followed her to the counter present on the opposite side of the building from the entrance. Standing behind it was a cheerful-looking woman with a hair color of vibrant pink. Her attire gave away the fact that she was a nurse rather quickly – a frilly, white-on-pink outfit and a small hat with a pink cross on her head were obvious signs of what her occupation was.

'This must be that "Nurse Joy" that Joey mentioned. It would seem that she is joyous enough, though I must wonder if that smile on her face tires her facial muscles out…'

Indeed, she had a gentle, caring grin on her face. Though It looked just a tad strained, as if she were keeping that smile on her features all day, every day.

"Heya, Nurse Joy! Marza here's a new Pokémon Trainer, so she'll be needing a License. Care to make one for her quick?"

The nurse responded in a kindly voice, "Why, you already know that it would be no trouble, Lyra! Now, Marza, was it? All I need from you is a bit of information about yourself."

Said lass nodded, showing her consent to the proposal. The nurse's smile widened slightly, and she turned to the computer just next to her to begin the process of creating Marza's License.

"Okay, then! I don't believe that I need to ask for your gender… Full name?"

"Marza Vernel Gaurdia." She said this a touch slower than her usual, somewhat faster than average pace of talking to make she that she understood her properly and avoid mistakes, spelling it out character by character when she asked her to do such.

Nurse Joy typed this in with a borderline surprising amount of deftness, taking only three seconds to input this information.

"Right… Age?"

"Twelve. I'll be turning thirteen in a month and a half, though."

Her eyes widened when she realized that the odds of her world and these other girls' having a time-keeping system even remotely similar to each other was astronomically small, but before she could rescind her mistake, the nurse nodded, putting this data in.

'… This is a truly amazing coincidence in terms of sheer chance," she internally exhaled.

"Starting Pokémon?"

Oscura decided to make her presence known here, hopping up to the counter and hanging onto it's edge to look at the pink-haired nurse. Once she was certain that the nurse had gotten a good, long look at her, the Rock Skin Pokémon released her grip on the counters edge, returning to Marza's feet in a speedy fashion.

"A Larvitar…? Not exactly the most common of first Pokémon for beginners, but it still works, I suppose. Does it have a nickname?"

"Yes, and her name is Oscura."

The Joy shot her an odd look at her emphasis on the "her", hut paid it little heed. The clicking of a keyboard followed for a second or two before she asked her next question:

"Any past incidents that are of note? And be honest." She sounded irked when she said that second part, as if she had to deal with such dishonesty on a daily basis.

She probably did, in all actuality.

"Not that I am aware of, self-defense from bullies aside."

A prompt nod and some more clicking, as well as momentary, curiosity-filled glance.

"Last question, and I again ask that you answer honestly: What is your overall goal as a Pokémon Trainer?"

Marza internally cringed, mildly struggling to keep her outer Visage as cal, and collected as it usually was.

'… Shoot, how can I answer this without appearing suspicious?'

After several moments of quick thinking, she settled upon simply winging it.

"… Would "personal reasons" suffice as a reason to become a Trainer?"

Lyra brows rose in curiosity. The nurse's grin, meanwhile, widened.

"Luckily for you, we get that one somewhat often. And you seem to be at least somewhat of a good person, so I'll let this secret of yours slide."

Marza let out a mental sigh of amelioration.

"Now, if you would allow me, I need to take a picture of you…"

She tilted the top part of the bendable computer to face towards Marza.

"Smile for the camera!"

A flash from the camera lens oriented on the top of the machine later, and a picture of a smiling (if only to a miniscule degree) Marza was taken.

After a slightly longer period of typing, Nurse Joy finished up entering information and the like, saying,"Alright! Your License ought to be all set by tomorrow morning. Those last two questions won't actually be going on your License, by the way; they're more of a quick personality check for those in charge to see if you need to be monitored or not. Whether they do so for you?"

A shrug.

"Well, I'm not the one who makes those decisions, now am I?"

Marza certainly understood the "why" of those last inquiries; she had had her share of encounters with not-so-nice people herself, after all.

"Is that all, Lyra?"

Lyra let out a small chuckle before responded, "Actually, no. I think we'll both be staying the night here."

Marza frowned slightly at Lyra act of putting words in her mouth, but let it go; she was going to ask if these facilities allowed for such things, anyways.

"Very well. Marza, here, I think I understand, but why are you doing this?"

Lyra thought about what to say for a moment or three.

"Well, I was supposed to grab some groceries for Mom, but then I ended up getting side-tracked with some other favors I owed my neighbors. Ethan, especially, had a pretty big one for me: it took me a pretty long while to convince Elm that that Pokédex wasn't for me and that I would give it to Ethan ASAP, especially considering how many of his things I've broken in the past…"

'Doubtless because of her clumsiness,' she thought before she could stop herself. 'Gotta wonder how she learned that Ethan needed a Pokédex when he is apparently a mute. Does they both know sign language…?' she pondered, genuine in her wonder.

After a bit of digging around in some shelves beneath the counter, the good nurse pulled out a key.

"Here is the key to the door of your room – those being singular because we are currently booked aside from that one room. Sorry about this, girls…"

"Oh, it's no problem, 'Joy! At least we won't have to go sleeping on the chairs!"

'Ah. That would explain why all of them appear to be so plush, not to mention large.'

Now that she bothered to actually look around, in fact, the Pokémon Center was a rather homely place. The walls and flooring were a pale shade of orange, and the carpets were a shade of blue that complimented the otherwise hard-to-match orange with some surprising fidelity. The aforementioned chairs were this same shade of blue, and the soft, pale lighting made even the lobby look like a relaxing place to sleep in. In the center of the building's flooring was the immediately recognizable Poké Ball symbol in a slightly more vibrant shade of orange. The upward stairs just to the right of the counter presumably led to the rooms the nurse had just given them, with this educated guess being proved correct as Lyra near-sprinted up them and opened he second door down the hall, beckoning for Marza to come along.

She did so without hesitance, her eagerness to finally stop using her feet for the day ironically propelling her forth with more speed than usual. The raven-haired girl closed the door behind her and collapsed onto the soft blue bed, sighing loudly as the pain in her bottom half began to fade. The Larvitar, as usual, followed suit, hopping onto the bed, though not appearing all that exhausted.

'Ah, the sweetness of relief and relaxation…'

Lyra just about leaped onto her own bed, crashing down onto it and sending the pillows flying, ruffling the blankets and sheets quite heavily, as well. She let out a childish giggle, ruffling the bedding up some before falling relatively still and silent.

"I'm used to walking a lot, so I'm not really that tired. It may also help that I'm just this big ol' bundle of energy that never seems to run out of the stuff!"

Marza sort of envied her, now that she said that. She was far more bookish than athletic – really, it was only due to some decent genes that have prevented her from gaining any visible amount of "real" weight.

Thus far, at least.

Maybe this whole "journey of a thousand miles" was something that she should undergo, if not for her overall goal of ending the mystery man's plot than to get stronger in a physical sense.

"Who knows? Mayhaps I'll even grow stronger mentally…' she concluded.

Speaking of conclusions, however, she began to feel drowsy. She Thusly decided that it was time to end her day, regardless of its being roughly two hours short of her usual time of slumber.

"Sorry to cut off the would-be conversation, but I'm gonna go to sleep here shortly…" She said, already beginning to undress and slip into her pyjamas.

"Aw, really?"

"Yes, really."

The brown-haired lass heaved an over-the-top, melodramatic sigh before saying, "Well, I guess I'll leave you alone for the rest of the night, then. No promises that Marill, Oscura and I won't make tons of noisemakers though!"

Marza just let out a muffled, indiscernable reply before she began heading off to Dreamland, the noise that Lyra had said would likely occur starting to become loud mere moments after Marza fell asleep…


	25. Chapter Twenty-Three: Continuing Onwards

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Lemme tell this to you all, my dear readers: school work tends towards making me supremely lazy. As such, you can blame that and a combination of my own subsequent sloth for the lack of updates as of late. 'Tis my apologies…

A Shout-out to gincitri for the Follow, as well as to joycewu333, for pointing out that error! Hey, readers, if there are any silly mistakes like that, feel free to point 'email out!

And, Y-ko, I do not own any fedoras, like that one Snivy from _ClicheStorm_. I _do_ have this neat-o RED Team TF2 hat, though!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ _,_ _Men_ _,_ _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Three: Continuing Onwards

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Pokémon_ _Center_

"C'mon, Marza! Get up already! It's nearly eight!" spoke a familiar voice to the rather drowsy girl. She grabbed the pillow that she wasn't using and put it over her head in response, still far too tired from yesterday's trekking to really care about much at that moment.

That is, until a heavy weight knocked itself directly into her stomach.

She immediately curled up even more, air knocked clear out of her.

She _was_ wide awake now, though!

After spending several seconds regaining her lost breath, she again responded, this time gasping, "Was… was that _really_ necessary, Oscura?"

Though she was out of sight, she could practically _feel_ the Larvitar's shrug of nonchalance.

" _Fine_ , _fine_ , I'm getting up…"

And that she did, after a few brief moments of stretching. Marza noticed that Lyra was already dressed up in her usual attire and raring to go.

' _She_ does _seem like an early riser_. _Makes sense_ , _considering her general energy-filled_ _self_ … _Better get up early_ , _anyways_. _Don_ ' _t want to leave the professor hanging for_ that _long_ …'

Lyra urged Marza to accelerate her pace in her morning routine, very clearly impatient and eager to be taking off from the Center. Upon being asked as to why she was so wanting to leave as soon as possible, she simply responded, "'Cause I'm keeping Mom waiting on her groceries back home!"

"And you aren't leaving right this second despite the fact that you are evidently ready to go… _why_ , exactly?"

"Well, it'd be jerkish of me to just up and leave without saying good bye, yeah?"

"Then why aren't you just saying "bye" and leaving _right now_?"

A momentary pause, before:

"… Good point, actually. But the way you say it makes it sound like you _want_ me to leave. I mean, if you _really_ want me to leave, I will…"

Marza was caught between humoring the girl and giving her brutal honesty.

'… _Let_ ' _s see if I can_ ' _t do both_.'

"Okay, I'm going to come clean: I would rather not have you around." The brown-haired girl's eyes turned to the floor sadly, but Marza still continued:

"It is only _somewhat_ because of your clumsiness, though. I can tell that you are a pretty nice person, constant tripping aside. I'm just a naturally solitary person, you see, so the reason for me wanting to separate from you isn't really _you_ being _you_ – it's simply _me_ being _me_. You get what I mean, Lyra?"

Another brief moment of silence transpired. After this, Lyra raised her head from its downward-tilted position, an understanding grin gracing the bottom of her face.

"Alright. I'll respect your wishes and go. Again, I've been keeping my mom waiting for long enough! She must do what most moms do and _cook for her kids_! Though, in this case, that'd be singular."

She hopped over to the door of the room, partner and best friaend Marill already by her feet. She made her final comments before closing the door: "Be seeing you later! I think I'll be following Ethan around after he leaves in a day or two, so, with any luck, we'll probably see each other face-to-face again eventually!"

And then she was gone. Marza heard the sliding and clicking noises of the main automated entrance/exit door as it opened and closed for the other lass' passage through it.

After a few moments of being upright, she allowed her torso to succumb to the effects of gravity, sighing tiredly.

"Almost felt like a jerk for telling her that. 'Least I managed to be polite about it, unlike my usual snarky-whenever-possible self…"

The Rock Skin Pokémon, meanwhile, had not taken kindly to Marza's display of sloth, readying another charge at her fellow female's stomach, but was stopped pre-emptively by a hand on the head.

" _Yes_ , I know that you want to get going as well, Oscura. But would you be so kind as to give me fifteen minutes? My legs are still quite sore, and my entire body still feels drained from that walking session. Please?"

The Larvitar glared at her for two complete seconds before relenting, plopping down on the bed herself with a sigh.

"Thanks. Don't let me stop your from exploring around, though. Go and check out the building, if you want… Just be in a place where I can easily find you in fifteen minutes…"

Marza promptly grabbed the covers and dragged them to cover herself up completely, sighing loudly, probably at the feeling of touching the silken-smooth sheets.

The green-skinned Pokémon wasted no time in hopping off of the bed and doing what Marza had just given her permission to do.

Just one problem: There was a knob-operated door blocking her way.

Oscura then leaped back onto the bed and nudged her partner several times. It was only after the sixth that Marza finally inquired as to what the matter was. A point to the door and a pair of puppy eyes was what she got in response.

Marza promptly got up, grumbling on her way to the door before opening it.

"Alright… Door's open, Oscura."

And then she marched right back to bed and resumed her earlier activities – or rather, the lack thereof.

Oscura headed out and into the gently colored building, looking around curiously. She had not really had a large amount of time to take in the entirety of the building last evening, after all!

There wasn't really a whole lot going on, from what the Pokémon could tell. The nurse was busying herself with a book below the counter, and no one else was present. Oscura noticed this only after grabbing onto the second floor guardrail and glancing over it in an attempt to practice and improve upon her stealth, however silly and pointless the action was. After this, she slowly walked down the stairs, as to not trip down them (she had done just that back home once – she could've sworn she felt her horn crack!).

"Oh, hello, there… Oscura, was it? What are you doing down here on your lonesome?"

Oscura simply shrugged, not really having a practical way of communicating at the moment.

"Well, then, do feel free to do whatever you please so long as you don't make a fuss!" she dictated with a kindly smile. Oscura nodded to this statement, not really looking for any sort of trouble (at least at the moment).

She simply decided to take another look around, again lacking in things to do while she waited for Marza. Spotting a few magazines stuffed into a container next to a chair, Oscura settled on getting some practice with her reading skills in, grabbing one that was a bit less tucked away than all the others before sitting down on the chair and got straight to reading.

Or, rather, she _would_ have, were it not for the nearby nurse curiously commenting, "You can read, Oscura?"

A nod. Why else would she be picking this collections of colorful papers up, flashy pictures aside?

… Okay, she kind of answered her own question there.

 _But still_.

"Well, that is quite unusual! This is only the second time I've seen a Pokémon that could do so, in fact! Don't let me distract you any further, though!"

Silence then permeated the building, the rushing of the shower upstairs aside. Oscura sincerely hoped that it was Marza in there and not someone else – reading may be good to learn and master, but for someone Oscura's, age, it grew boring rather quickly.

A few people came – all but one of which glancing at her strangely – and eighteen and a half minutes later, Oscura's partner sauntered down the stairs, still looking a touch tired. Oscura put the magazine away, going over to her and grabbing her attention with a small chirp.

"I saw you, yeah. Practicing your reading, I see?"

The tyke nodded with enthusiasm, eager for some praise. She received it when Marza said, "Good job with that initiative. You'd best keep it up! Now, before we leave…"

She paced over to Nurse Joy's desk, placing the room key that Lyra had left on her night stand on the counter.

"That is the room key. Also, would you happen to know a way to find out Oscura's Moves? Because I unfortunately don't."

The nurse cheerfully said back, "Well, the two most practical methods are luckily both relatively easy. You can either put Oscura in a Poké Ball and hand it with her inside of it to me so that I can check…"

Both of the two other females shook their heads, not exactly comfortable with this.

"… or you can simply open up a Pokédex if you happen to have one and check yourself. Simple, no?"

'… _I feel like an_ idiot _for not bothering to fully investigate this thing_ ' _s full range of functions earlier_ …'

Upon a bit of perusing in the device she came by an application that scanned Pokémon Move sets. She used it with Oscura, and it procured the following data:

"This Larvitar knows the Moves Bite, Leer, and Outrage. For further information, tap the section of each Move on the screen…"

She cut the device off by turning it off, next saying to the pink-haired nurse, "Thanks for that, Joy. Possibly be seeing you later…?"

The nurse just continued to smile, saying, "Indeed! Have a safe trip wherever you end up going, Marza!"

Said girl just grinned wryly in response.

"I'll try."

And then Marza and Oscura left the Center to resume their little quest in the middle of their significantly larger quest.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Four: Common Courtesy

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

A relatively quick update in compensation for what will likely be a rather long wait for the next chapter because of the recent release of _Fire Emblem Fates_. Just thought I would throw that out there…

With much gratitude to Princesslostsoul for the Favorite and Follow, and to cassjo for the latter! Continue giving me encouragement, guys, for I just might be needing it…!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Four: Common Courtesy

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Route 30_

It was a rather pleasant morning outside, now that Marza thought about it. The sun was shining across the horizon, the flowers blooming, and the birds…

' _Well_ , _actually_ , _they aren_ ' _t_ technically _birds_ , _are they_? _Just Pokémon that happen to_ look _like birds_.'

Anyways, they were chirping up a storm of noise, with the cries of Piaget and a couple of other species she didn't recognize.

' _A relatively normal morning by this world_ ' _s_ _standards_ , _I believe_ ,' she concluded, correctly at that. Oscura followed at her feet, as usual, also looking around in curiosity.

It was about as active a morning outside the Pokémon Center as it was inside, it would seem. A relatively miniscule amount of people were going about outside in the mildly chilly morning air, saying a word or two to the few that they passed by. Marza spotted the man who showed her around town yesterday afternoon reading a book, apparently waiting for someone new to come along and promptly show them around the undeniably quaint little town.

The path to New Bark Town was decidedly not her destination, however. Instead, she went over to the northern gate of the City of Fragrant Flowers and left the town that way.

This Route – apparently the Thirtieth by whatever system they used when it came to identifying the things – inexplicably felt a bit more lively than the previous. Maybe it was the fact that the time at which Marza was travelling was now morning rather than evening, and that there were thusly a great deal more Pokémon scurrying about…?

' _And there I go again_ , _thinking about generally pointless things_.'

"Moving on! To more adventure and new discoveries!" she intentionally said aloud, possible in an attempt to excite herself and drive the rest of the tired feeling from her body and mind.

"… And that sounded exceptionally cheesy, didn't it, Oscura?"

A prompt nod.

"Knew it. Ah, well," she sighed.

"With all due seriousness, though, we'd better get a move on. We don't want to keep Elm waiting, and we have our own agenda on top of that!"

Another, significantly more enthused nod.

And then they moved on. A fairly large patch of tall grass was blocking the way forward, so, seeing as how there was no practical way around it, the pair of girls didn't hesitate to wade in and get out as fast as possible, avoiding any encounters with wild Pokémon.

In the second patch of grass, however, they were not quite as fortunate: another unfamiliar Pokémon sprang out at them. This one sported an insectoid appearance, with six limbs ending in circular white objects and five black spots on its red carapace. Marza was quick in taking out her Pokédex, and after a moment, it showed on its display:

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Sixty-Five: Ledyba, the Five Star Pokémon. Typing: Bug-Flying. Ability: Swarm. It is very timid. It will be afraid to move if it is alone, but it will be more active if it is in a group."

' _Wait_ … _A_ group?'

A quick glance around the perimeter revealed no less than a dozen pairs of similar-looking eyes to the Ledyba in front of them watching the confrontation. They appeared a decent amount bigger than the eyes of this Pokémon, as well, which lead Marza to believe that this particular specimen was a youngling sent out on one of its first real battles.

Not wanting to get mauled by a pack of relatively large bugs, Marza dictated to the currently waiting Oscura, "Take it easy on this one. We're being watched by a bunch of other Pokémon – probably this one's family – and I don't think we can take them all on at once…"

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Battle_! ( _Wild Pokémon_ )

Though a bit wounded in terms of her pride, Oscura nodded in acquiescence, slowly sidling forth before getting the drop on her new-found opposition, opening up with a shoulder bash. The unexpected speed caught the opposition off-guard, sending the Pokémon flying. It caught itself with relative ease because of its wings, however, and it charged right back at Oscura in return. This did not serve to deter the Larvitar to any significant degree, both because of her heavy weight and tough skin, but she was still shoved back a couple of inches or so because of the attack's sheer momentum.

Whilst this went down, Marza thought, ' _Oh_ , _shoot_ , _what was that one obviously offensive Move besides Outrage_... _Ah_ , _yes_!'

"Try giving your foe a Bite, Oscura!"

She carefully propped herself, aiming for someplace that wouldn't leave any sort of permanent injury before chomping down, cringing at the taste of bug flesh. The Five Star Pokémon yowled in pain, thrashing wildly for several seconds. It only managed to get away after Oscura let it do so, and it glared at its opponent before it began to rapidly gyrate its wings, letting out a high-frequency noise. Oscura covered her ears, wincing at the sound, as did Marza (much to the other Pokémon's befuddlement), leaving Oscura open to an attack.

One Tackle later, and the painful ringing in both of the females' ears stopped, though Oscura was now lying on the ground, the air potentially knocked out of her, unlike Marza.

' _And that is what I get for allowing myself to get distracted_ '

"You alright, Oscura!?"

A muffled-by-the-dirt " _Tar_ …" was the Rock Skin Pokémon's response.

"Okay, scratch that! Are you still able to battle, Oscura?"

She slowly got herself up from the ground, eyes widening when she saw the Ledyba already closing in again. Reacting fast, she stood her ground, this time remaining up-right as she was prepared for the assault. She grabbed her foe, tossing it the ground roughly before again using Bite.

For the second time, the Ledyba screeched, though it managed to break away on its own. Instead of continuing to pursue the fight, it instead settled on buzzing away, fleeing from a battle that it now knew it could not win and saving itself from the humiliation of true defeat and the injuries therein.

Marza held her breath, still very much aware and weary of the other dozen-ish Ledyba that surrounded them. After several seconds of relative silence, permeated only by the wind and Oscura' quiet pants of exertion, the sets of eyes, one by one, revealed themselves before flying off after their defeated comrade.

Oscura slowly paced over to her partner, not appearing _too_ tired after a bit of rest, smiling up at the lass in pride.

"Good job, Oscura, especially with that persistence. I believe that you deserve a reward for this, in fact…"

After some rummaging around in her carry-on pack, she procured a couple of small pieces of hard candy. A few unwrappings later, she handed them to Oscura to eat. She happily munched on them, not appearing to acknowledge the fact that these types of candy were meant to be sucked on before being chewed.

A beep from the Pokédex in her pocket caught Marza's attention while she observed Oscura eating. Taking it out, she tapped the notice on the screen, which promptly brought up some text.

"Oscura had learned Sandstorm, a Ground-type Move that summons a toned down version of its namesake to steadily damage all non-Rock, Ground, and Steel-types over a lengthy period of time."

And just below that:

"See also: Sand Veil Ability."

She next tapped the suggested link, curious as to what precisely this Ability entailed since she remembered the Pokédex mentioning Oscura having this Ability during Lyra's confrontation with the Pidgey the previous day.

"Any Pokémon that has this Ability will have its general agility sharply raised during a sandstorm."

' _Hmm_ … _An easy move combo for a quick boost in stats while also hindering the enemy_ , _is it_? _I_ would _like it were it not for the fact that it_ ' _s a_ sandstorm _we're talking about spontaneously whipping up_!'

"Interesting," she said aloud and succinctly in terms of the new possibilities presented to the pair. Oscura looked up at her in curiosity, finished with her candy by this point.

"Well, you learned a new Move, Sandstorm. Probably not going to be using it any time soon, though – it's not really the most considerate of things to do… well, at any place that isn't a desert."

Considering that she (somehow) knew what a sandstorm was and what it usually did, Oscura nodded in agreement to this.

"Good to see you are polite enough to know to not do that unless necessary."

Marza then inquired, "How _do_ you know what a sandstorm is, anyway?"

Oscura, in turn, entered her own pensive silence before shrugging.

"The fact that you know so much without being taught is quite strange, isn't it?"

A nod from the Pokémon tyke.

"Well, that aside, I think that we ought to keep moving. Want to ride with me or not?"

Oscura shook her horned head in the negative. Marza felt internally relieved by this – the young Pokémon was really quite heavy for her relatively miniscule size!

The pair of girls then progresses onwards.

* * *

Many Pokémon were spotted by the two as they progressed, all but one of them avoiding them, as they had probably seen the battle that they had emerged victorious from earlier. The singular one that _did_ approach was a bird-esque Pokémon that reminded Marza of the Pidgey species. Upon taking out the Pokédex, it read:

"Pokédex Number Twenty-One: Spearow, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. Typing: Normal-Flying. Ability: Keen Eye. Very protective of its territory, it flaps its short wings busily to dart around at high speeds."

' _Protective of its territory_ …'

She slowly backed away from the Spearow, waving at Oscura to do the same. She did not like the glare it was giving them, especially when its stare intensified when it locked eyes with the other Pokémon in a challenging manner. Though again taking a wound to her pride, Oscura obeyed the human's request.

The Tiny Bird Pokémon appeared contented by these actions, flying off and into a nearby tree where it began to carefully preen its tiny feathers.

"Another encounter avoided… Shall we continue onwards, Oscura?"

She let out a cheerful "Tar!" in response and agreement.

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Route 30_

T'was three quarters of an hour later when Marza and Oscura came along a small housing. It looked rather plain, and not too dissimilar to the majority of the buildings in Cherrygrove.

' _Elm said that we ought to be able to recognize Mister Pokémon_ ' _s house on sight, yet this one looks to be on the bland side, at least externally_ … _May we well investigate_ , _anyways_. _Just in case_ ,' she figured, knocking on the door thrice over at a reasonable volume after making this decision.

Three seconds passed before she heard the creaks of refined wood being stepped on, and another three seconds transpired before the door opened, revealing a somewhat old-looking man. He, like the building he evidently inhabited, was overall plain and non-descript, aside from his odd, seemingly perpetual squint.

After a few moments of taking her appearance, he said to her, "Hello there, whoever your are! I assume you came knocking because you thought that this was Mister Pokémon's house?"

"… Not _exactly_. Someone told me that I would know what house was Mister Pokémon's upon seeing it, and when I saw how bland your house was – no offense – I decided to check, just in case Elm was wrong or if he were visiting here. You almost never know with these kinds of matters, you see…"

The man simply nodded before responding in turn, "Oh, I understand, especially since I tend to get a few of you new Trainers knocking at my door every week."

He did not appear aggravated by this fact – he appeared to appreciate the humor he found in their ignorance, if anything.

"Well, apologies for the would-be intrusion and the waste of your time and energy. I suppose I'll be leaving, if you will let me…"

"Ah, actually, would you be so kind as to wait here for a moment? I'll be right back out in a jiffy!"

The slightly grizzled man closed the door behind him, and upon listening a bit more closely than she usually did, she heard the sounds of shifting contents. Whether they were on shelves or grounded containers, she had no idea. Her sense of hearing wasn't _that_ finely tuned!

' _Not that this train of thought really matters all that much_. Again.'

After approximately a minute of waiting, the man re-emerged from his humble abode, and handed a moderately sized box to her. It was orange on the bottom and white on the top, and reminded Marza of those ice-filled cooler boxes for drinks to some extent. A brief glance inside revealed four layers of plastic – the top two held sixteen small slots each, and the bottom two had eight large slots each.

"This is a special container for Apricorns and most types of Berries. The former can be made into Poké Balls if you take 'em to the right person, and the latter can be eaten by your Pokémon for a wide variety of effects. Most plants that grow those are okay to grab these from, so if you see one, feel free to do so!"

' _Apri_ corns? _And not apri_ cots? _Also_ …'

Marza awkwardly stuttered out aloud, "Um… Might I ask _why_ you are giving this to me for seemingly no reason?"

The man genuinely smiled.

"My unnecessary stockpile of them aside? Because you are one of the surprisingly few kids these days who have the patience and courtesy to apologize for intruding! Really, it is quite startling how little of those two traits children have when they realize they've made a mistake…"

Marza couldn't help but giggle at this reality, saying after she calmed down, "What a truth _that_ is! Either way, though, I think we've got to get going. Thanks for the gift!"

"Safe travels, kid-o!"

They waved to each other as the distance between them began to lengthen, grins on their respective faces as they bid farewell and continued on with their lives…


	27. Chapter Twenty-Five: Silly Old Coots

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

… Welp, what can I say? _Fates_ hard proven to be most entertaining, _Pokémon Blue Version_ took me a solid thirty-five hours of gameplay to beat Blue and get the four (five with Mew) Legendary Pokémon, and, well… school is a thing. Just reminding you all!

The Review 'tis appreciated, WyldClaw! If that is how good it was for you at the _beginning_ , then I hope that the rest of the story only gets better for you in terms of personal enjoyment!

And before I forget…

 _Sun_ and _Moon_ HY~PE!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Five: Silly Old Coots

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Come Along_

T'was another fifty-two minutes and some slightly sore feet later when Marza and Oscura finally arrived at Mister Pokémon's house.

'… _Well_. _It would seem like Elm was really_ not _joking when he said I would recognize it on sight_ …'

The front yard was filled with – for lack of a batter term – Pokémon garden gnomes. Miniature statuettes of Pokémon lined sections of the yard, reminding Marza of something such as an army squadron. The overhang of the porch had a dozen or more miscellaneous posters draped on its edge, and the front door, rather than the usual oblong shape, was a perfectly round, man-sized slab of wood in the shape of a Poké Ball. The layered, wooden walls alternated between red, black, and white with every new vertical plate of wood.

And that was just on _one_ side of the house!

"Quite the fanatic, I imagine…"

Marza knocked on the door after a great many moments of hesitation, and from inside, a middle-aged voice spoke: "Come on in!"

Marza did so, again with some hesitance.

The interior of the house was a hodge-podge of machines and merchandise of varying kinds – dolls, keychains, and other such knick-knacks. There were no less than four computer monitors and corresponding tools, not to mention the myriad of cords lying about.

Perhaps more worthy of the two females' respective attentions, however, were the two men sitting on a plush white-red-black couch in the center of the mess. The slightly older looking man on the left had auburn-colored hair that was clearly in the process of graying over, a yellow vest with a white shirt underneath, some plain brown pants, a pair of oddly thick eyebrows, and a wize, kindly smile.

The one on the right continued the trend of the standard Poké Ball colors being everywhere, with striking white pants, a collared red shirt, and a black tie. His hair, like the person next to him, was graying, though the fact that there was not quite as much gray as there was black showed off the fact that he was probably at least a few years younger than his co-hort.

His curiosity-filled brown eyes bore onto hers for only a moment before shifting to the Pokémon next to her feet. He leapt from his position on the couch and whizzed over to the Larvitar, crouching down to get a closer look at Oscura. Said Pokémon hid behind Marza's legs, unnerved by his rapid approach and his mildly creepy gaze.

The tri-colored man exclaimed, " _Ohhh_ ~! What a rare specimen you have there! How _ever_ did you come across it?"

Marza curtly replied, " _She_ was technically a gift, and her name is Oscura. Way to be rude and _not ask me for my_ _name_ , by the way."

He replied in his somewhat eccentric tone of voice, "Ah, apologies! I tend to get rather excited when I see such rare Pokémon as this Larvitar before me! I am not a Trainer, however much I wish I was, you see, so I am not allowed to go to the more dangerous places such as the wilderness of Mount Silver. Now, before I forget again, what is you name?"

"Marza. I assume you are Mister Pokémon?"

"You would be correct in that assumption, young lady," spoke up the other man, getting up from the couch, himself.

"I am Professor Samuel Oak. Some call me the Pokémon Professor, but since there are more than one of those, I prefer Professor Oak. Pleased to make you acquaintance, Marza."

Marza grinned in appreciation at his politeness, but was also a tad bewildered with a pattern she was beginning to notice…

'… _Odd_. _Elm_? _Oak_? _What_ , _is there a_ " _Professor Evergreen_ " _out there as well or some such_?'

She jumped off of this train of thought swiftly (however amusing the ride may have been), and returned, "Likewise."

She shifted her focus to the other man, next saying, "I have been told by Professor Elm that _you_ , Mister Pokémon, wanted to give him something. He was preoccupied with some tasks, and will apparently continue to preoccupied for a while yet, so he asked me to come over and get it for him."

" _Ho_ _ho_! How very like him, to be caught up in so much work to the point where he wouldn't have time for big ol' me!"

He didn't sound bitter about this, or even resigned – just as if he had done this a million times before and had learned to take it with a grain of salt.

"Well, I _would_ say that you knowing that _alone_ is enough proof, but I am wiser than that! So, answer me three questions, and you shall have your parcel that you supposedly need!"

Marza thought that this whole procedure was silly to a borderline obscene degree. Oak seemed to unintentionally agree with this sentiment, shaking his head in bemusement at the Pokémon fanatic when his back was turned.

"Question one: I have been told that Elm has been dealing with a particularly rowdy starter Pokémon as of late. As you must have went into his lab to get the request to come to me, you must know what Pokémon this is! So, what is the name of this Pokémon?"

It was hardly a difficult question, especially considering how strange, striking, and memorable most of the Pokémon that Marza encountered were, at least to her, personally.

"Totodile."

Mister Pokémon snapped his fingers and gave a thumbs-up.

"Very good! The second question: I have known Elm long enough to know that he organizes things in a very odd way. How would you describe the way Elm sorts things in his lab?"

' _This is a bit vague_ , _but who_ ' _s to say this can_ ' _t be a trick question_?'

"As far as I could tell, he doesn't _really_ organize things – at least, to any more of a degree of organization than piling things on top of each other haphazardly."

The hard-core fan of Pokémon winked this time.

"Clever girl! And for your final question: Did Elm tell you what you were even supposed to get from me in the first place?"

Marza racked her brain for answers, yet could find no reasonable one. As such, she uncertainly responded, "… I do not believe so…?"

"Good answer! It is also the correct one, as Elm forgetting what he is talking about mid-conversation is unsurprising! _And not at all because I didn_ ' _t tell him_."

The second sentence was uttered in a hushed tone. Marza barely held back a snort. Samuel, on the other hand…

"Heh, heh! Looks like Elm isn't the only scatterbrain here!"

"Oh, shut it, Sam!" The smile on his face contradicted his words, making obvious his humor of the situation.

"Well, that aside, I would say that you are not lying about your little quest! As such, I, Mister Pokémon, shall bestow upon you…!"

He then zipped over to a window, plucking out a relatively gargantuan egg sitting on a soft mattress in a glass container from behind the curtain. The ovular object was a simple, stark white across the entire surface, with the exceptions of some small, triangular spots of either red or blue dotting it every now and then. The Poké Ball-colored man paced back over cautiously, staring at the ground in front of him as he did so as to not trip over any wires or trinkets.

"A Pokémon egg of what I suspect is a nigh-extinct species! I believe that it would be more secure with him than it would be with me, so if you would be so kind as to get it to him _intact_ , we scientists would appreciate the favor greatly!"

' _Oh_ , _you have_ got _to be kidding me_. _They're entrusting me with something like_ this!?'

She was internally grasping at straws as to how to respond.

' _To risk or to not risk the potential of extinction for a species_ … _That is the question_ … _Ah_ , _someone else is going to have to do this if I don_ ' _t_ , _and_ I _am the second-least clumsy person that I know_ , _so_ …!'

"I'll do it," she responded succinctly.

"Very good! So good, in fact, that I will commend you for having the courage to take this task up!"

He slowly and carefully handed the package to her, saying, "Be extra-careful! An entire _species line_ of Pokémon just might be riding on your back and lack of clumsiness!"

' _Species_ line…? _Wait_ , focus, _Marza_!'

"No pressure, I know," she couldn't help but snark. "Now, if you will excuse me, I would prefer getting back to Cherrygrove and possibly New Bark by the end of the day…"

The distinct sound of a clicking pen drew Marza's attention away from Mister Pokémon to Professor Oak. With some startling deftness, he folded the paper he had just been writing on a few times, took an empty letter from a nearby desk, put the paper into the letter, and sealed it shut with a quick brush of an index finger.

"If it would not be too much trouble, Marza," he spoke up again, "would you be so kind as to also deliver this to my fellow professor? I have a few words to say to him, and while I acknowledge that computers and e-mails and such are extremely handy tools when it comes to these matters, it simply doesn't feel as personal as using a letter."

Marza grinned at his opinion.

"Oh, I agree completely, Professor. It's really a shame, how all of this newer technology is rendering actual face-to-face encounters and relationships less and less common!"

Oak laughed a genuine laugh at this.

"It is good to see that my mind isn't so addled with age as to think that, then! Anyways, I think we have been keeping you long enough, especially considering how far away your intended destination is. Have a safe trip!"

"The thought is appreciated! Good bye!"

With that being said, both parties turned their backs on each other, with one to continue their travelling and the other to resume their conversation. Speaking of which…

"So, my friend, what were you going to say about the Skitty and the Wailord?"


	28. Chapter Twenty-Six: The Rival

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Oof… An entire _month_ of absence? _Yeah_ … So sorry, guys 'n' gals…

I _did_ go back and put a few tiny changes on most of the chapters, though! These changes are so tiny, in fact, that you probably won't even notice 'em!

A shout-out to Cubler for the Follow and Favorite for this story, as well as the account Favorite!

And apologies for the content of your Review, TeamPiperM. I don't really have a particularly _good_ reason to justify making Ethan a mute. I just haven't done interactions with a mute in a story of mine before, and since it would feel a bit awkward to either leave him out altogether or have him start talking when I have always been playing as him in Generations Two and Four, I figured, "Why not?"

And in the most recent news of all, this story has been added to a Community here on the site! _Pokémon_ ' _s_ _Best of the Best_ , it's called, and judging by the title, I would say that they have some relatively high standards! You honor me, and thanks much for this!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Rival

* * *

Marza was struck with the distinctive sense of dejà vú, and not _just_ because she was in Cherrygrove City again. No, it instead stemmed mostly from her sore feet and the ever-energetic Larvitar near her feet, who didn't look particularly winded despite the constant walking. Spotting the now-familiar building as she entered town, Marza decided to rest for a brief spell at the Pokémon Center. She and Nurse Joy exchanged some brief greetings before the younger human plopped herself down on a couch.

"Not here to stay the night, just to rest up for some minutes," Marza declared.

"You plan on getting to New Bark Town before it gets dark, then? Not to sound mocking, but you may want to make this stay short!"

"I am aware of that, yes."

A few minutes of quaint silence passed before Nurse Joy, noticing the scrapes and bruises on Oscura, asked, "Oh! Your Larvitar – Oscura, was it? – looks a bit injured. Want me to heal her up?"

"That depends. How long would it take?" Marza asked, despite Oscura's indignation at being called out in such a manner.

"Two, three minutes, tops, considering how small those injuries appear to be. Despite being a nurse using the stuff for a few years by this point, I still can't help but feel amazed at how far our healing technology has come!"

This piqued come curiosity in Marza. "Healing wounds in such a small amount of time, even if they're superficial? Would you happen to know how, precisely, it works?"

The nurse put a finger to her chin in thought before answering, "… Haven't actually thought about that, at least to any significant degree. I _do_ know that it involves some fancy light, though! Want to come take a look?"

"I don't see why not, sore feet aside…"

She rose with a small grunt, taking Oscura from her lap (which was a tad difficult considering how fast she was gaining weight) and walking over to the counter. The pink-haired woman guided the Larvitar onto a glass-like panel. A flip of the switch later, and an _actual_ glass pane slid over her. A button press later, soothing green waves of light began to flow from the edges. Before her eyes, Oscura's wounds began to vanish, fading out slowly before disappearing altogether.

Marza was thoroughly amazed internally, and struggled to keep it from showing externally, as well.

' _How does this even_ …!?'

But before she could even consider the abstract, overly complicated possibilities, Oscura hopped out and was (with some difficulty) placed on the bright red counter by Nurse Joy.

"All done! Told you it wouldn't take long! Quite impressive, no?"

After a couple of seconds of re-organizing her thoughts, the other girl succinctly responded, "Yes. Yes, indeed."

After a dozen or so more minutes of testing her feet, Marza bid farewell to the nurse for the second time, pacing out of the building, refreshed Larvitar in tow.

All was well for the first five minutes spent outside after her rest. Why _only_ the first five minutes? Well…

She ended up roughly crashing into someone at the exit of town, sending her butt straight to the ground. A quick glance up revealed that it was _not_ , in fact, Lyra who perpetrated this act, but, rather, a familiar red-haired boy.

' _Methinks this is that same suspicious boy watching Elm_ ' _s lab from yesterday_ …'

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Rival_ ' _s Theme_

"Watch where you're going, idiot!" he shouted at her as he got back up, clearly not caring in the slightest for manners.

" _Excuse you_ , you visually impaired ignoramus," Marza bit back, patience at an end because of the constant shoving.

"What was that you just said…?" he inquired, eyes narrowed.

"Just what I said: you are blind and stupid. I was walking slowly _and_ in a relatively straight line on top of that, and yet you _still_ _somehow_ manage to bump into me? Not to mention how rude you evidently are. Didn't your mother ever teach you what manners are? You're supposed to say " _sorry_ " whenever something like this happens. Or – again – are you just that stupid…?"

The boy's glare intensified at this remark, as if it had struck a rather sensitive nerve.

"… Guess I'll just have to show you how pathetic you are for even _trying_ to stand up to me, then!"

He hastily took out a Poké Ball from a pocket and threw it at the ground in front of him, the sphere promptly popping open and revealing to Marza a familiar Pokémon.

' _So_ that's _what he was planning back there_ … _Should_ ' _ve pointed him out to someone when I had the chance_ …!'

The Totodile looked to be extremely nervous, glancing around frantically before his eyes met Oscura's. The Big Jaw Pokémon shifted left to right in place, probably wanting to flee from his apparent captor to Marza, yet feeling pressured to do otherwise.

The lass took out her Pokédex, wanting to get some information on the Water-type in case a fight ended up happening.

' _You can never be too careful_ …!'

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Fifty-Eight: Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokémon. Typing: Water. Ability: Torrent. Its powerful, well-developed jaws are capable of crushing anything. Even its Trainer must be careful."

'… _Are those_ bruises _on Totodile_!?' she pondered as she spotted said injuries, putting the Pokédex away, angered at the thought of a potentially abusive Trainer.

"Well, what're you waiting for, you stupid thing!? _Attack her already_!"

With the pressure was magnified by this command, it felt it had no choice, slowly pacing up to Marza. Said lass calmly stood her ground, thinking, ' _Even_ if _Totodile_ does _go through with his command_ , _I doubt he would injure me to any serious degree_.'

Before Marza's theory could be put to the test, however, Oscura stepped forth, barring the other Pokémon's path and giving him the fiercest flare she could manage. This succeeded in its intended goal of stopping any attack from the Totodile before it could begin, and Marza remarked, "Totodile appears quite hesitant. Probably because you _stole him_ , in fact. And since hesitating in battle tends to cripple a person's capabilities, how's about you–"

"Shove it!" the young man cut off, continuing his rude streak. He then dictated, "Totodile! You will either attack them _right now_ , or _sincerely regret it_ later!"

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Battle_! ( _Rival_ )

This finally propelled the Pokémon into action, who ran forth and, with his somewhat sharp claws, scratched Oscura across the torso. Given her tough physical exterior, she was hardly phased, aside from the miniscule marks the attack left behind. Totodile slowly backed off, eyes slowly widening as the realization he that he probably couldn't do much dawned on him just then.

Oscura briefly turned to her partner who promptly (and reluctantly) commanded as she tentatively put down the Pokémon egg, "I don't think either of us want to do this, but... Try not to hurt Totodile _too_ much."

The Larvitar nodded in ascent, roughly shoving Totodile away before re-closing the distance, charging in horn-first. The Larvitar's opponent was just barely fast enough to dodge the blow, and Totodile again tried using Scratch, this time with a bit more force.

 _This_ actually did some damage, if the small grunt of pain that left Oscura was any indication. This didn't deter Oscura from approaching again, however, picking up and tossing her foe when she got within grabbing distance. Totodile landed roughly and without grace, but was still barely fast enough to avoid a follow-up attack, that being a would-be body slam that would probably have hurt quite a bit considering the apparent weight of the Rock Skin Pokémon.

Now flat on the ground and thusly rather vulnerable, the Water-type Pokémon hastily clambered onto Marza's partner's back and began clawing away, much to said human's dismay.

"Oscura! Try rolling over!"

She did just that, forcing Totodile to get off lest he be crushed. Oscura hastily stood back up, resuming her offensive with a Bite.

Totodile promptly screeched in pain, desperately latching onto Oscura with his stubby fingers, trying and failing to pry her off his side. Oscura just wouldn't relent on her hold, gnawing and eventually even _beating_ her opposition in the side.

It was only after twenty-ish seconds of this punishment when Totodile involuntarily finally broke free when Oscura put her feet down and roughly tossed her foe to the ground, as if this were a wrestling match, with the Larvitar being a heavy weight and Totodile being significantly lighter. The Pokémon cringed at his wounds, clutching tightly at his wounded side with the hand on his opposite side as he struggled to even _stand_.

Marza attempted to intervene on the Water-type Pokémon's behalf: "I think we've seen enough–"

The red-haired boy cut her off again: " _Shut your trap_! Totodile! Get up, or else!"

It continued to struggle to rise, failing to do so three consecutive times.

"Enough of this…"

Marza began pacing over to the Totodile.

"And what do you think you're doing!?" he exclaimed, starting to walk over, himself.

Marza tenderly picked up the primarily blue Pokémon, said alligator-esque being shocked by her kindness.

She next spoke, "This Totodile clearly doesn't want to fight. You can't just order a living, sentient being to mindlessly obey you like it's your slave!"

The boy growled, reaching for the Totodile, but Marza stepped away, telling him, "I am taking Totodile back to Professor Elm. You don't deserve hi–!"

She was cut off yet again, not by the others words, but by his fist crashing against her stomach area. She promptly collapsed to the ground, the wind knocked straight out of her, wheezing in pain. Totodile was unintentionally let out of her grip as a result, quite literally leaving him open to grabs. The boy did just as would be predicted, roughly grabbing the poor thing and leaving. Not before some spite-filled parting words, however:

"You know what? I've barely even known you for five minutes, but I already _hate you_. Just like all those other _idiots_ who preach _love_ and _tolerance_ and _all that crap_! You're no different from those pathetic fools! In this world, _strength alone_ is all that matters! And I intend on being the _strongest in the world_."

He stormed off with a scoff, Totodile – who appeared to be on the verge of tears from all the stuff happening to him – unwillingly in tow. Oscura would have pursued them and brought the despicable boy some justice, but was halted with Marza's weakened voice.

"You won't… need to do that…" Marza panted out.

"You would obviously beat that boy yourself, yes… but it wouldn't be as satisfying as beating him in a straight fight a second time and showing him who's _really_ the strongest, now would it…?"

Oscura didn't appear satisfied by this, yet was still gratified by the fact that Marza, too, was quite angry.

At least, the cold frown on her face said as much.

Slowly recovering, Marza stood back up, and continued:

"Not a lot we can do about it by this point, anyways. He's already gotten away. With this, however, we can get a bit of leverage over him the next time we see him!"

She opened her hand, revealing a little card with a picture of the boy on it.

The name in large emboldened text read "Silver".

Oscura's eyes widened, recognizing it as a piece of personal identification.

"I swiped it off of him when he punched me. He may be strong, at least on a physical level, but he's apparently lacking in brains for not covering his pocket when doing something like this!"

She briefly chuckled, as did Oscura. After an additional moment to regain her bearings, she announced their next plan of action:

"Now, we'd better check up on Elm. Who knows what he did to him and his laboratory!"

The pair of females then ran for New Bark Town, driven by both purpose and worry…


	29. Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Good Girl

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

I have ellipses.

Thank you again, Quagsire12, for your praise on my writing of Silver! I'm trying to keep him in-character, and it's nice to know that I am evidently doing a good job!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Good Girl

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Professor Elm_ ' _s Laboratory_

The windmills scattered around New Bark Town twirled and tilted, their noise audible in the otherwise silent dusk. A four-wheeled vehicle whose appearance practically screamed "authority" was parked near Elm's lab-house's front door. Marza knocked thrice on said door, patiently waiting for someone to come out.

Just as she had predicted, the one who came out was a stern-looking police officer. That's what she _assumed_ , at least, judging by his apparel and wooden club hoisted at his waist.

"And who might you be, girl? Someone coming to confess to their crimes? Rule number one of these cases: The perpetrator will _always_ come back to the scene of the crime at some point!"

Marza couldn't help but snark back, " _Some one_ ' _s_ been watching too many reality shows, it would seem! First of all, that is a _huge_ generalization, to the point where it is, in fact, frequently incorrect – specifically, _right now_. Second: I already have a partner in the form of Oscura–" said Pokémon made herself known by way of giving an affirmative "Lar!" at that instance – "so why would I have need for stealing a start Pokémon? Third: did you not even take a _singular moment_ to notice the fact that I hardly appear to be some sort of miscreant? _Especially_ for my age? And fourth: _rude_!"

The officer struggled for a few moments to respond, and during those moments, Elm strode over.

"I can vouch for Marza, sir. She was running an errand for me while this whole debacle occurred, I assure you."

"I… suppose you raise a convincing argument for your case, and if the victim himself says so, you're good to go… That still leaves the question of who in the blazes stole that Totodile, however!"

Marza was feeling a bit conflicted as to how to respond to this exclamation. Should she tell them of this boy and have them solve the problem of Silver for her, or feign ignorance and attempt to do so herself, making up for her admittedly wounded pride in the process?

'… _This just_ might _be against whatever laws this world has_ , _but I am_ not _going to just let him get away with punching me like that_!"

"I'm afraid I've no idea as to who this might be, officer," she smoothly lied, thankful for her ability to act to a decent degree, yet still feeling a slight sting of guilt for doing so.

Oscura shot her a curious glance at this action, but remained silent, trusting her decision – as well as the reasons behind it – completely.

The officer remained mildly suspicious of her, shooting Marza a caution glance before declaring, "Well, there's no further business to be had here, and I've found all the evidence that I can. Crimes aren't solved by just standing around and doing nothing, after all!"

He then got into his vehicle and left, with Marza and Elm both bidding him farewell as he headed for the car.

"… _So_! I see you've obtained the package and brought it here. Would you like to come in and discuss it – as well as your little quest – inside?" he inquired, clearly attempting to steer the conversation into less serious territory.

Marza, going along with this, agreed, "Yes, indeed, on both accounts."

She handed the contained egg over to Elm when they arranged some seating from the lab, which somehow got even messier than before. Broken objects were strewn about, and the window on the relative left side of the building was shattered, its shards scattered on the nearby area of floor.

Elm proclaimed, "Oh, _another_ Pokémon egg? You are making yourself predictable, my friend…!"

"I assume he's done this many times before, then?"

Elm let out a good-natured sigh.

"Indeed. He always gets so hyped up whenever her finds or receives a Pokémon egg; it's almost gotten obnoxious, how often he does this!"

"Well, to be fair, he _did_ say that this is apparently the egg of a highly endangered species…"

Elm then took a closer look at the semi-ovular object, saying next, "Is that so? Now that you mention it, the pattern on this thing _does_ remind me of a rather rare species line of Pokémon… Hmm…"

Marza, curious, asked of him, "You know what this egg will hatch into, then?"

Pulling his glasses back up from their lowered position, he confirmed, "Again, judging by the unique pattern, yes."

He didn't say any more on the subject, proceeding to set the encased egg down on a nearby counter, humming softly in thought before resuming, "I believe that I said you would be compensated for fetching this for me. I _may_ have been a bit hasty when I said that I could give you something worth your while, especially for all that walking you doubtlessly had to do. So, ah… if you could give me a moment to scrounge around and hope that that miscreant hasn't stolen anything else…"

While doing just that, he asked another question:

"Say, Marza… How is it that you're aware that the thief specifically stole a Pokémon?"

' _Oh_ ,' she internally cringed, not having thought of a response to such an inquiry ahead of time. Quickly making up something on the spot, she said, "I saw a boy with red hair running away to Cherrygrove and probably somewhere beyond. Wouldn't surprise me, at least, and I decided not to say anything because if I just said that I saw a suspicious-looking, red-haired boy running, it decidedly wouldn't've helped that much. I would imagine there are quite a lot of people with red hair his age, anyways. There's also a decent chance that he wasn't even a part of the crime. Who knows?"

' _I do_.'

The part about the quantity of young boys with red hair was age mildly bold assumption on Marza's part, and it paid off when Elm replied, "I suppose that I see your point, even _if_ red hair isn't the most common natural hair color here in Johto. You still should have at _least_ told him what he looked like, though; what if he turned out to _actually_ _be_ the criminal?"

Marza, still a tad guilty about leading him on like this, responded in turn: "I suppose so."

Elm simply sighed as he continued to search for something half-decent and not wrecked in some aspect or another for Marza, struggling to do so because of how disorganized the place now was.

Well, more than what was evidently the place's usual, at least.

Nearly ten minutes of searching on Elm's part passed before Marza declared, "If it's taken you _this_ long to search for something decent, then I don't think that–"

" _Found it_!" he then declared himself, as if prompted and intentionally timed.

'Really, _now_? _You find it_ just as I say that!?'

He paced back over to the lass, handing her a small device, red-on-white device that reminded Marza distinctly of a flip-to-open phone. She idly opening it up as Elm began to explain, "That is one of the latest models of Pokégear, a sort of multi-purpose device. It has a built-in call feature like a phone, a clock, a radio, a calculator, and an ever-handy map of the Johto region with a GPS locator!"

Marza used the buttons on both the center and sides of the device, navigating to the scroll-like icon of said region. At the moment, it only displayed a rather tiny amount of land, specifically the area of – and just around – New Bark Town. An arrow helpfully bobbed up and down above the large red square that represented the town, telling the girl of her current location. Marza pondered why the map displayed such a tiny area until Elm clarified for the befuddled lass, "And if you're wondering why they didn't just make the map full-scale for the region or even made into a global one, the designers – some deviant company of a larger one over in Sinnoh, if I recall correctly – figured that they would design it so that you could only view regions of a world once you first arrive in each individual area. Something about promoting Trainer careers, travelling, and exercise, despite the fact that you can just look at a world map online with relative ease. Seems silly, if you ask me…"

' _Heh_ … _Like exploring a massive world in a video game for the first time_. _It_ does _seem silly_ , _but for me_ , _personally_ … _I think I_ ' _m going to enjoy the feeling of filling in this massive map bit by bit!"_

Filling things such as maps in caused an inexplicable sort of pleasure to course through the girl, it would seem.

Speaking of, Marza was grinning at the thought without even realizing it, as Elm pointed out: "… Why're you smiling like that, Marza?"

Blushing mildly, Marza stuttered out, "W-Well, you could say that the idea of exploring unfamiliar territory appeals to me. You could say that I'm not that worldly, and I haven't exactly seen much of this world, so…"

This answer didn't appear to satisfy the professor that much, but he accepted it with a shrug, regardless.

'" _Unworldly_ " _indeed_!' the Pokémon Professor silently observed, remembering how the girl asked about Types because she was somehow unfamiliar with them, which, considering her apparent age, was particularly strange to him.

"Anyways, that thing isn't registered to anyone yet – not that it registration is really officially a thing a person can do on that thing, anyways – the reason being that it's a spare I keep around in case my one – which is getting on in the years, by the way – kicks the bucket. Speaking of my Pokégear, though, would you mind registering my number in yours? You know, in case something urgent such as a theft like this comes up again, or if I need another errand ran for me."

He couldn't help but grin sardonically at this. Marza simply sighed good-naturedly, asking him, "Alright, alright, I'll comply. How do you work this thing when it comes to that?"

He demonstrated, completing the process in nary a minute and asking Marza to dedicate the procedure to memory.

"I've been told that I have a good memory, but if I forget anyways, I'll be sure to call you. I think we're about done here, aside from one last thing I've got to ask: how are the other starter Pokémon?"

Elm took a finger and pushed his glasses up to an unnecessary height on his nose, as if to appear knowledgeable.

"Cyndaquil thankfully didn't have to witness any of the chaos because he was picked up by Ethan earlier today. Chikorita, on the other hand…"

His glasses fell down from the top of his nose, as if to signify his deteriorating mood.

"Poor girls been hiding in the nearby woods since that thief left. I've been seeing her a couple times near the treeline throughout the evening, but I can tell that she's reluctant to come back indoors because of the incident. It's kind of sad to watch, really. She's clearly been shaken up by this quite a bit – I just hope that she hasn't been flat-out traumatized by this whole debacle…"

' _It_ ' _s almost like he_ ' _s trying to make me want to help_. _I don_ ' _t think that he_ ' _s doing so intentionally_ , _though_ … _Hmm_ … _To help or not to help_ … _That is the question_ …'

After a few moments of thought, Marza decided on her next course of action:

"If you want, I can go look for Chikorita…"

Elm was beginning to feel some shock coming on with how kind this girl was being.

"W-What!? But, Marza! You've already done plenty as is! And I'm not really sure I have anything else that I can give you, besides!"

Marza rebuked, with a somewhat cheeky grin on her face: "And who's to say that I can't just do something out of the good of my heart?"

Elm studied Marza for some moments, probably attempting to find some sort of ulterior motive. She he found himself incapable of finding any, he stated, with a grin of his own, "If you insist, I won't stop you! Do be sure to be back here before it gets completely dark, however, even if it means giving up on your "search and rescue" attempt! And if you're wondering, no, I won't be giving you his Poké Ball, because if Chikorita is involuntarily caught and brought back here, I don't think that she'll react well."

"I wasn't even entertaining that thought, but okay then, Professor."

"Oh, and don't be afraid to defend yourself with Oscura! Just about anything that's got a brain and a functioning set of instincts usually doesn't react well when backed into a corner!"

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Marza idly stated as she closed the door behind her. She next said, this time to Oscura after "really" exiting the premises:

"So much for "one last thing", eh, Oscura?"

Said Pokémon giggled.

Just before the pair of females crossed the line between civilization, Marza thought, with an audible sigh:

' _My feet are going to regret this later_ … _I guess this is what I get for being a_ " _one more time_ " _kind of person_ , _regardless of the fact that I_ ' _m trying to do the right thing_ …'


	30. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Return

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Oof… The combination of the end-of-year rush of homework and finals for school did a _fantastic_ job of killing my motivation! Never fear, however! This story – as well as _Dimensions and Realities_ – will still be continuing! I ain't gonna drop them _that_ easily!

With many thanks to Katelynn for the Favorite, not to mention SaoirseParisa for the Follow and Favorite for _OCMaM_ and the latter on thisnacdount! 'Tis appreciated, both of you!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Return

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Ruins of Alph_

A mere twenty or so minutes after her second departure from New Bark, Marza was already regretting her somewhat hastily-made decision.

" _Ugh_ … The _least_ I could've done was wait for a half-hour, but I just _had_ to go immediately without a solid five seconds of pondering otherwise…"

Oscura, looking as chipper and inexplicably energetic as always, simply shrugged at her human companion. Marza, in turn, sighed.

"Well, nothing to do but continue the search, because I would just look like a lazy, half-hearter if I turned back at this point, even if it's starting to get a bit hard to see…"

Indeed, a mere sliver of the sun was peeking over the horizon at this point of the evening, making it a tad difficult to see even thirty fret in front of her in these somewhat dense woods.

Perhaps more worthy of concern, however, was the fact that she was venturing into an unknown forest in an unknown world filled to the virtual brim with unknown creatures – and that's not to mention that she hasn't even been outside during the night in this world to begin with!

' _Who knows what kinds of Pokémon could be venturing out at this hour_ , _and the ones to come_ …?'

Marza restrained the urge to become frightened, reminding herself that she had Oscura – a strong, trustworthy companion, to be certain – by her side, and that the Larvitar has hardly shown sides of cowardice in the (admittedly short) time that she has known her.

' _Better hope that she doesn_ ' _t have any phobias that we're not aware of_ , _and that they don_ ' _t become a problem_ …'

She decided to derail that train of thought before it even left its station, lest it ship its panic-filled goods to the rest of her mind.

Fifteen additional minutes passed before Marza declared, "I need a break…"

She promptly plopped down next to the base of a nearby tree. Oscura looked a touch disappointed because of their halt in progress, but, understanding the situation, she, too, laid down, idly scooping up a few nearby pebbles before inserting them into her mouth. The resultant crunches were, despite the fact that _rocks_ were being crushed, on the quiet side of the noise volume spectrum.

' _Still wondering as to how the blazes some of these creatures can function the way they do_ …'

A few minutes passed before she began to feel the fatigue _really_ get to her, a wave of sleepiness washing over her and tempting to fall asleep on the spot. She conquered this urge, however, rousing herself before asking Oscura to do likewise.

"Gotta wonder how long these woods go on for…" the human mumbled, genuinely curious, as the pair again resumed their search. The primarily green Pokémon near her feet quirked a would-be brow before shrugging. Marza, who only _just_ now noticed this after who knows how many times this happened, requested, "Wait. Do that again."

An inquisitive "Tar?"

"The thing where you raised your eyebrow."

She complied, with Marza leaning in and looking at the Pokémon's expression with some amount of scrutiny.

"… Not gonna lie: That feels a bit weird to look at on a non-human face. Guess I just need to get used to it. I already am used to your human-powered intelligence, at least," she remarked.

"Oh, and you can let go of that expression now," the human stated, noting that Oscura was still locking her brows in their raised/lowered positions. Oscura gladly obeyed.

"Now, to get back on track. I'd rather get to sleep and rest my feet sooner than later…"

* * *

Yet another while passed before Marza's worries about wild Pokémon came to be realized, thought not necessarily in the way that she had anticipated. They were continuing to trudge along when the pair came by a small group of sleeping Pokémon whose appearances brought to mind an elephant, were elephants stout in height and of decidedly odd colors.

The Pokédex rattled out, "Pokédex Number Two Hundred Thirty-One: Phanpy, the Long Nose Pokémon. Typing: Ground. Ability: Pickup. As a sign of affection, it bumps with its snout. However, it is so strong, it may send you flying."

"Pokédex Number Two Hundred Thirty-Two: Donphan, the Armor Pokémon, and the evolution of Phanpy. Typing: Ground. Ability: Sturdy. If Donphan were to crash into something with its hard body, even a house would be destroyed. Using its massive strength, this Pokémon is handy in clearing rocks and mud slides blocking mountain trails."

' _Adorable on the first_ , _intimidating on the second_. _Also_ , " _evolved form_ "? _Better ask about that later_ … _Anyways_ , _better not to wake up this family, if it is indeed one_ …'

"Come on, Oscura. Quietly, now… Don't want to wake them up…!" Marza mumbled, not willing to risk an altercation against Pokémon that may very well be a great deal stronger than Oscura.

Unfortunately, a twig snapped beneath one of Oscura's feet, prompting a twitch from the Donphan's ears. It quickly rose with a loud snort, looking angrily at the two companions and shuffling its feet against the dirt, like an enraged bull ready to charge.

' _What do you_ mean _it woke up from a snapping twig rather than my Pokédex_!? _In fact_ , why _did I even take the thing out in the first place_!?'

"… Okay, bad luck, Oscura. Back away _slowly_ , like with that Spearow…"

The pair of females did just that, with the human raising her arms in a non-threatening manner. The Armor Pokémon still stamped at the ground, heartily encouraging her retreat, only backing down when its two foes were a few dozen feet away. When the Donphan did this, Marza picked up Oscura and just about _ran_ in the opposite direction. After glancing around, the Donphan huffed, sat down, curled up, and dozed off again, the young Phanpy crawling up to it in a successful attempt to retain warmth.

Marza couldn't help the grunt of pain that escaped her lips when she finally came to a stop a couple of minutes later, hands on her slightly wobbly knees as she panted softly after she put Oscura down.

"Should've run a bit slower… Ngh… You still feeling okay, Oscura?"

Said Larvitar nodded emphatically, _still_ not appearing winded in the slightest despite how much walking, running, and fighting she's had to do that day.

"Consider me envious of your energy, then…"

A break would not be coming to her quite yet, however! The sounds of a scuffle sounded out nearby, which happened to include the cries of that one Pokémon that Marza had been looking for. Beckoning for Oscura to follow, Marza fast-walked towards the sounds of the fight that was evidently happening, not being too shocked when she saw Chikorita attempting to fight back against a group of Spearow. The key word in the previous sentence was certainly "attempting" – there were no less than half of a dozen of the Flying-types incessantly pecking at the poor Grass-type.

"Hold on, there, Chikorita! Assist her, Oscura!"

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Battle_! ( _Wild Pokémon_ )

The Rock/Ground-type joined the fray as was dictated, the combination of her sudden joining of the conflict and Marza's somewhat loud voice immediately scaring two of the bird-like Pokémon off. The remaining four, however, stuck around, glaring at their new-found opposition with a large amount of distain.

"You alright, Chikorota?" inquired the only present human, quite concerned for the quadrupedal Pokémon's well-being. The Pokémon managed a relieved nod, if not shaky, getting back on her feet after a bit of struggling.

"Well, you don't really _look_ fine to me, or Oscura, for that matter! Stay behind us – we'll manage these miscreants!"

One Spearow had decided that it had grown sick enough of waiting for the human's spiel to end to the point where it abruptly let out a battle cry (a shrill squawk, much to Marza's pain in the ears) and charged toward Oscura. The Rock Skin Pokémon reacted quickly, grabbing it, twirling around on the would-be heel of her foot, and throwing it toward a tree. It crashed against the rough bark, crumpling to the ground, feathers thoroughly ruffled and evidently unconscious.

The other three Spearow were hardly discouraged – in fact, they only looked to grow more indignant at the fall of their flock member, or whatever that specimen may be from their perspectives. The three avian Pokémon then charged Oscura all at once, determined to bully the intruders out of their turf.

Oscura was strong, yes, and faster than her appearance would make most believe, but three swift birds attacking her from various angles – all of them just out of reach in the air, no less – was definitely quite the disadvantage to work against. When she reached out to attack one, another would interrupt her with a beak stab in a blind spot, leaving Oscura with a rather small amount of windows to actually hit her foes.

Considering their quick-to-anger natures, their synergy was quite startling.

"Oscura! Be patient! You're physically tough – shrug off the blows and be patient with your strikes!"

But it would seem as if she was too frustrated to listen, not even appearing to hear her partner's words as she continually missed her attacks.

Marza felt a bead of sweat form on her head, grimacing as she thought, ' _This is clearly not good_ …'

Marza struggled to determine her next action: ' _Those Spearow don_ ' _t look too tough_ … _And who knows_ what _they'll do to us if I don_ ' _t do_ something… _Guess I'll just have to do_ this, _then_ …!'

After a few seconds of self-calming, Marza leaped into the fight herself!

Her entrance was sudden enough to catch the three Tiny Bird Pokémon off-guard. Marza roughly grabbed one of her foes, glaring at it briefly before running up to a tree and smashing its skull against it. The thing went unconscious almost immediately, feathers comically flying from its head as it slowly slid down the tree to the ground.

' _Oof_ … _Hope I didn_ ' _t give_ ' _em a concussion or some such_ …'

The other two Spearow were distracted to the point where Oscura found the opportunity to tackle one of them out of the air, body slamming the one that was to her left, knocking it out and removing it from the fight in the process.

This just left the final one able for battle. It was understandably bristling its feathers in tension, glancing back and forth between the slowly approaching human-Pokémon combination in an almost paranoid sort of way. These notions were quickly put to a halt when a leaf-like projectile shot between Oscura and Marza, hitting the poor Pokémon straight in the neck and sending it sprawling to the ground.

Marza turned around to see Chikorita as she let out an satisfied huff, despite her shaky countenance. She shot the Pokémon a grateful grin before turning back to Oscura, who promptly ran in to finish the job, clambering over the Tiny Bird Pokémon and socking it in the face.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

And before the fourth, Marza decided to step in.

"This one's had enough, Oscura! It's unconscious already! Calm down!"

Oscura's metaphorical hand was clenched and raised above her head for that fourth strike, but upon hearing Marza's voice, she backed off, eyes widening in shock as she truly token in how much she had – to put it bluntly – _messed that poor fool up_. Already, _both_ of its eyes were bruising up, and a third bruise was swelling up just above its right eye. She got off of the injured Pokémon and ran over to Marza, clutching at her leg and rubbing her head against it, clearly having an internal struggle.

Marza sighed, bending down and petting Oscura, saying, "I understand how frustrated you were there. I was, too, as was Chikorita, in all likelihood. But you've got to learn to rein in your anger. These Spearow probably had this coming, yes, but you don't need to take it any farther than knocking them ot, now matter how frustrated you may be. Alright?"

Oscura nodded, and when raised her head to look Marza the eyes, tears were just barely visible at the corners of her eyes. Marza promptly picked the Larvitar up and held her close, worry overtaking her for some moments.

' _It_ ' _s almost like she_ ' _s scared of_ herself…'

This continued for a minute or two before a small chirp was let out, and the two glanced over to Chikorita, who was clearly feeling awkward at having to interrupt this touchy-feely moment.

"Ah, right… Professor Elm sent us to get you. He was very worried when you ran off just as night was beginning to fall, as was I when I heard of this!"

Chikorita looked a bit guilty, and were there not a language barrier, would have likely attempted to explain her reasoning. Thankfully, her guilt-riddled expression alone sufficed for Marza, who, exhaling softly, asked of the Leaf Pokémon, "Can you just come with us back to Elm's place, please? My feet are just about killing me, and both you and Oscura hardly appear to be in the best of possible shape…"

Chikorita nodded her consent, rising to all fours (still shaking somewhat) and plodding along after Marza, expression just as wearied as the Larvitar-carrying human's…


	31. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Resume

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

More ellipses, aside from the following:

With all due shout-outs to WyldClaw for their Review! Not to sound mocking, but, ah… could _you_ maybe be more descriptive? And while I'm at it, a second about-out to abbydobbie for the Favorite!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Resume

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal_ soundtrack – _Professor Elm_ ' _s Laboratory_

Marza simultaneously _was_ and _was not_ surprised to find Elm slouched over a desk, fast asleep, arms crossed underneath his head.

' _He certainly seems like the type to fall asleep at work_ … _Or potentially worrying_ , _in this case_.'

She snuck over and gently shook the Pokémon Professor awake, for he had not woken from the sounds of the door unlocking, opening, and closing again.

"Mhmhhh… Gimme some co'ee, hun'… They ain't back yet…"

Marza pondered on how Elm managed to fall asleep in just an hour and a half or so when he was worrying so much but ignored this idle curiosity and muttered in a slightly amused tone of voice: "Actually, Professor, we are."

He rose with a certain amount of bewilderment, bending his head to look at Marza before exclaiming with a surprising amount of vigor despite having just woke up: "Ah! Why, yes, you are! I hope Chikorita is with you…?"

"Indeed she is," Marza said back, said Pokémon walking up, looking quite tired, her scrapes and bruises pronouncing this further.

"My, she looks beat up! She clearly got into a fight, as did Oscura," he remarked, noting the other Pokémon's injuries. "I hope it wasn't something that got _too_ out of hand…?"

Marza shrugged. "We made it so that it didn't. We just had to bully a small flock of Spearow for a bit – that's all that happened."

"Is that so? Well, in that case, I'm grateful that nothing else happened to you all!"

Marza scratched the back of her head at this proclomation. "Erm… Actually, Oscura and I accidentally encountered a Donphan and some young Phanphy – probably a family, now that I think about it – and accidentally woke the Donphan up. We almost got into a fight that we probably couldn't win, judging by how strong the thing looked. We just backed away slowly, like we would with any other dangerous entity of sensibility, and we got out just fine."

Elm looked not too startled when he head this, glasses unintentionally falling askew for effect. Pulling them back up to the bridge of his nose, he next proclaimed, "The sensible thing to do, to be certain. It does me some good to see a Trainer who puts peace and logic before an opportunity to grow stronger."

Marza felt tempted to scoff. "You make it sound as if I had any other option _but_ to retreat in that case. But, yes, I do prefer a peaceful resolution over a violent one."

' _In most cases_ , _at least_ …' she muttered internally, remembering the grim satisfaction that she had felt when she showed the pair of bullies from her world who was really on top.

"Well, incidents aside, I think that all three of you are looking quite tired! How's about _you_ go take a rest on that couch over there–" he gestured appropriately to a moderately sized green couch, "while I heal up Oscura and Chikorita? It'll only take a few minutes, I assure you."

"I am aware of that because of a Pokémon Center that I visited, yes, and I will gladly rest. My feet feel like they're covered in blisters…"

She took off her white-on-black shoes as Elm guided the pair of Pokémon upstairs, settling in and attempting to make herself cozy on the sofa.

' _I've only experienced the luxury of these things twice so far in this world_ , _but I still must wonder as to just how high the standard of comfort is for these things_ …'

About three minutes later, the sandy-haired professor returned, Oscura and Chikorita in tow. The presence of the latter made Marza experience a tiny amount of surprise.

Elm scratched at his hair for a moment before saying, "Ah… Chikorita here seems insistent about sleeping with you and Oscura. I think she's gotten kind of attached to you two, thanks to what was apparently your timely intervention!"

The Leaf Pokémon didn't look particularly enthused at the cheesy and slightly exaggerated way that Elm stayed this, but nodded in confirmation to this nonetheless.

"… Well, it's gonna be cramped, but hop on here along with Oscura if you want…?" Marza said with some awkwardness, not really having anticipating her rest time to turn into an impromptu snuggle-fest. Elm grinned slightly as he went back to his _actual_ living space, already knowing how this would turn out.

Oscura hopped aboard the comfy couch with all due speed and pleasure, as she had yet to spend a night of her life without Marza by her side. The Grass-type was slightly more reluctant, leaping up to the piece of furniture after a few seconds of indecisiveness.

Sleep overtook the trio rapidly, with Marza's final conscious thought of the day being, ' _Ah_ … _Forgot to ask about that_ " _Evolution_ " _thing_ … _I'll just have to ask Elm about it first thing tomorrow_ , _then_ …'

* * *

The first thing of note that she did the next morning was just that.

"Ah, yes! Evolution! I'm having a hard time believing that I forgot to mention that when I gave you my little tutorial! Evolution is not really what the name would make you think – it's hardly something that happens over a long period of time, but, rather, over the course of… what, fifteen seconds, tops? A more proper term would certainly be "metamorphosis" – under certain conditions, with the most common being a sufficient amount of strength (though you should be aware that many other Evolution conditions exist), a Pokémon will undergo a transformation, changing appearance and gaining a large amount of power in the process. This also frequently has the Pokémon mature both physically and mentally, so it tends to mark a transition between one age of a Pokémon's life to another.

"Pokémon evolve through many ways and at varying points in their lives. As I said just a few moments ago, growing to a certain level of strength is the most common condition for this to happen. If I remember correctly, Oscura evolves via this method, though it happens a good deal later than the average Pokémon. Same with Chikorita, by the way. Other conditions include exposure to special, energy-charged stones or other items, knowing a certain Move, and, oddly enough, a Pokémon growing close to their Trainer or simply _trading_ Pokémon with another Trainer.. I don't really know why those last two can happen either, so don't ask.

The learned man cleared his throat before he finished off: "Some Pokémon don't evolve at all. Some evolve once. Some evolve twice, with some examples again including Oscura and Chikorita. There's even a short-term _third_ state of evolution that can be obtained known as Mega Evolution, which require _extremely_ rare stones and particularly close bonds between Trainer and Pokémon. Chances are you'll rarely – if _ever_ – see this happen, as it is just such a rarity to have met the elusive requirements needed to have it happen.

"And… I think that about covers it. Any questions, Marza?"

'… _Well_ , _who knows where that shady person is_ , _and I may as well have some secondary objective_ …'

With this in mind, she next said, "On the issue of Evolution? No. On a few other topics? Yes."

"Well, by all means, ask away!"

"You said at one point that I should go do challenge the Gyms. Seeing as how I don't have any remaining business here, where should you recommend I go first for this?"

"Ah, yes. I get asked this a lot, and my answer is always Violet City. I hope you remember where Mister Pokémon's house is?"

An affirmative nod.

"Violet's straight west of there, and it's not exactly a long trek from there, either. You're going to have to take a fork in the road just before you get to the house – be sure to bank left rather than right! If you leave now and be speedy, there's a pretty good chance you'll get there before night falls."

"Thanks for the advice. I suppose that I'll be seeing you later, then…?"

"With any luck!"

He waved good bye, but just as Marza was about to grab the door handle, he exclaimed, "Oh, wait! Forgot about one last thing!"

Marza stifled a sigh. She was a bit forgetful herself, but that hardly stopped her from suffering foolish shenanigans lightly.

"What is it?" she asked, successfully keeping the irritation out of her voice.

"Well, as it so turns out…"

Elm picked the encased Pokémon egg up (Marza had completely forgotten about the thing due to last night's events), cautiously walking through the clutter on the floor before handing it to the lass.

"Pokémon eggs tend to hatch considerably faster if they are with groups of Pokémon and people – Trainers, in particular. It's an odd phenomenon that we don't quite know how to explain, but it exists, nonetheless. As such, I'm going to have to ask you to take this thing with you and care for it when it hatches."

"Are there no other candidates for this? I mean, I'm glad that you trust me enough to give me this and trust me with it, but I would rather not be sullied with this the potential risks if given the option…"

"Well, Ethan left… yesterday, was it? As did Lyra. There are no Trainers around your age or of your responsibility level, and the only Pokémon left here is Chikorita. Cyndaquil, the third Pokémon that was here, is quite shy, and, as such, you didn't really get to see him. Now that he's with Ethan, however, there's now the chance you'll see him in combat. That aside, again, if you don't take it, the egg is going to take a great deal longer than it would if you were to take it with you. It may be riskier than just leaving it here, yes, but I believe it would benefit the Pokémon that will hatch from it more than if it were to stay cooped up in this lab. So, would you be so kind as to accept this egg from me?"

Marza exhaled softly, closing her eyes for a moment.

' _This world is going to be the end of me_ , _I swear_ …'

"Well, if you're going to be so insistent with this, I may as well."

"Thank you very much, Marza! Do be sure to call me and tell me of what the Pokémon is like when it hatches!"

He promptly handed the lass the egg, and they waved their goodbyes, a grin on the male's face and a somewhat worried grimace on the female's.

"What am I getting us into, Oscura…?"

The Rock Skin Pokémon shrugged for the _nth_ time, not really certain, either.

"Well, regardless, it's time to get my feet sore again. _Joy_ …"

* * *

Chikorita looked out of one or the building's windows, gazing wistfully at her saviors as their forms retracted into the distance.

"… Do you want to go with them, Chikorita?"

She glanced back and forth between Elm and the other two – who, by this point, were barely visible – and, after several seconds of indecisive reluctance, nodded. Elm, in turn, sighed.

"Well, go on, then! Don't let me stop you!"

Chikorita ran off as Elm finished saying this, determined to catch up and join her to-be companions.

It was now Elm's turn to look out the window. He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, proclaiming to himself: "Next thing you know, there's going to be another batch of starters here… Better get to requesting them from the League…"


	32. Chapter Thirty: Novelty

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

… Eh. I have no excuse for lazy updates at this point in time besides laziness. As such, I shall blame myself and only myself for this!

With more shout-outs to realecielshieru and AR215 for both of their Follow and Favorite!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Thirty: Novelty

* * *

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Route 31_

Marza and Oscura were about half-way to Cherrygrove when Chikorita managed to catch up to the two of them, panting lightly as she entered their respective lines of sight.

"Chikorita? What are you up to, following us all the way out here? Did Elm forget about something again and have you be the errand girl?"

The Grass-type shook her head, though she certainly understood as to why and how she came to that assumption before all potential others.

"Well, what's your purpose for being here, then?"

Chikorita, not being able to speak English, had trouble expressing her reason for this. Resisting the want to sigh, the Leaf Pokémon decided that she had no other choice (aside from some roundabout non-sense), but to get… well, in a word, _cheesy_. With a considerable amount of reluctance she started rubbing against her leg, like a dog showing affection to its master.

"… You like Oscura and I…? _Oh_ , you want to come with us!"

Chikorita rapidly backed off, grateful for both her swift understanding and for the fact that she could stop this embarrassing action almost as soon as it started.

"… Well, it's fine with us. Right, Oscura?"

Said Larvitar nodded her acquiescence, eager for some additional companionship.

"And I hope that Elm _let you out himself_ this time?"

Another nod of returned indignation, along with a slight look of anger.

"Well, we could always use the… well, not really _man power_ , more the _Pokémon_ power, in our not-so-little quest."

Chikorita let out an inquisitive "Chik?" as if to say, "Which is…?"

"Well, we're going on what is probably considered the usual Gym quest, and we're also looking for someone. It's a but personal between him and I, so the specifics are on an absolutely-need-to-know basis. As in, you'll only get to know if it's _absolutely_ necessary. I apologize, but I've some secrets that I would rather keep to myself, at least until we get close enough as companions. Just wanted to put that out there," she stated for the record.

Chikorita nodded, wondering as to just what this human's deal was to make her say this.

"Now, on to more immediate concerns! Namely, finding out what you like to eat and what to name you… You _are_ fine with a nickname, right?"

A fourth nod, - she understood the practicality of nicknames, and that aside, she would rather not be so… _generic_ , in a word.

"Good. I'll think on some names and hopefully share some with you by the end of the day. Now, to rest for some at the Pokémon Center and ask about what your species likes to eat…"

* * *

About three hours after checking up on that information with the aid of Nurse Joy (turns out Chikorita could just eat most plants and grass, which made Marza wonder whether this could be counted as cannibalism or not), the trio-plus-one-egg were resting for a spell at Mister Pokémon's place. The presence of Chikorita and the egg made the man quite inquisitive.

"A Chikorita? And you still have that egg? Do tell of the circumstances that lead up to you being with both!"

Marza explained in the most succinct manner that she could.

"Hurm… Well, considering the fact that you have two – three, if you count the Pokémon that will inevitably hatch from that egg – you're making great progress on assembling your team of six already!"

"Six? So there's a maximum to the number of Pokémon that can be used in normal Pokémon battles?" she assumed curious.

"Indeed, though I'm left wondering as to why you aren't already aware of this."

"I'll say roughly the same thing that I said to Elm: I'm not exactly the most worldly of people."

"Are you saying that you've had a sheltered life up to this point or some such?"

"… You _could_ say that…"

' _I mean_ , _I wasn_ ' _t exactly aware of other worlds before that shady person came along_ …'

"Well, that aside, you said you're going to Violet? Well, you ought to get going shortly if you want time to see the sights there! It's still about an hour off, and who knows if a Trainer'll challenge you to a battle!"

"Good point. Come on, you two, we'd better continue on!"

Now venturing into unfamiliar territory, Marza opened up her Pokégear, which, after some menuing, displayed "Route 31". The map, which now displayed a slightly larger area than the previous time she had checked, showed off a landmark that Marza hadn't noticed before. Tapping it as she walked across the somewhat rocky field between the treelines, the small text box talking about the area she was currently in was replaced by an alternative text box, the header of which read "Dark Cave". The description was as follows:

"A dark, difficult-to-navigate tunnel that runs beneath the Johto region. Has many man-made entrance/exit points along the eastern edge of the Silver Range."

Marza assumed (correctly, as she would find out in the future) that the Silver Range was the virtual fence of peaks reaching to the sky in the distance. With this, as well as the description in mind, she mentally proclaimed, ' _I_ ' _ll consider going back here later_. _If it_ ' _s as hard to navigate as the thing says_ , _then I doubt it_ ' _s practically possible to get through it at the moment_. _I have other things to be doing_ , _besides_ … _Anyways_ , _moving on_ …!'

Carefully treading down the series of ledges, the trio continued westward, halting only during two instances.

The first came with a particularly exhausted-looking, slightly chubby man resting near a tree. He looked mighty sleep as he proclaimed, with some slurs: "My feet're burning and I feel _sooo sleeepy_ … If I were a Pokémon, I'd be _sooo_ easy to catch… _Eeeasy_ …"

"… Are you trying to give me an unsubtle tutorial or something, because I already–"

" _Eeeeeasy_ …" he simply repeated with additional emphasis, sinking against the tree he was leaning against.

" _Right_ , moving on…" she stated, both to herself and her companions, more confused than, say, freaked out.

Instance number two occurred with a Trainer interrupting her progress for the second time out of what would likely be many. This one reminded Marza of Joey, what with his seemingly similar age and casual shirt-shorts combo, though this Trainer was packing a straw hat that appeared a size or two too big for him, as well as a large bug net and a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Hey! Our eyes have met, and, seeing as we're both Trainers, we are bound by _the law_ to have our Pokémon battle!"

' _Ugh_ , this _again_?'

"Fine, I'll indulge you. Which of you two wants to test her mettle?"

Chikorita stepped forth first looking ready and primed for action. Or, at the very least, more eager than Oscura, who decided to simply let her take center stage for the time being.

"Alright, then, Chikorita. Show 'em what for!"

"Go, my faithful Caterpie!"

Marza promptly took out her Pokédex, not really appearing to mind the bug's large size compared to what she was used to. ' _Definitely cuter than some of the larger bugs and insects at home_ , _at least_.'

"Pokédex Number Ten: Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. Typing: Bug. Ability: Shield Dust. Its voracious appetite compels it to devour leaves bigger than itself without hesitation. It releases a terribly strong odor from its antennae to defend itself from predators."

The battle was, in sum, rather simple: the Bug Catcher, who would later be identified as Wade, instructed Caterpie to use String Shot before Chikorita could get in range for any attacks. This slowed her down, but only slightly, and the Caterpie only managed to get a flimsy Tackle on Chikorita before going down.

Wade sent out a second Caterpie. The same process happened.

When the _third_ Caterpie was sent out and soundly trounced, Marza retracted Chikorita, noting the sheen that she was getting from the sweat resulting from the struggle that was attempting to move fast under a large amount of sticky string.

The fourth and final Pokémon on Wade's part was thankfully not a Caterpie, yet still looked undeniably similar to the previous three Pokémon.

"Pokédex Number Thirteen: Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon. Typing: Bug-Poison. Ability: Shield Dust. A Weedle has an extremely acute sense of smell. It distinguishes its favorite kinds of leaves from those it dislikes by sniffing with its big red proboscis."

This one was also defeated convincingly by Oscura, though not before a Poison Sting's needles impacted in her side as she tried to dodge. Wade, apparently trying to be polite, said after withdrawing his final Pokémon, "Nice job, Stranger! I should probably consider quality over quantity for my battling style, heheh… Anyways, since your Pokémon got hit by that Poison Sting, I figured I'd give you this."

A small transparent spray canister was offered, its yellow contents swirling idly inside as she took the item.

"And this is…?"

"An Antidote. Spray it over a place where you think a Pokémon's been Poisoned, and it'll heal pretty quick. Considering how many bugs I run into, I always have a bunch of spares handy."

"Why thanks you very much, ah…?"

"Wade."

"And I'm Marza."

'… _Well_ , _he offered it_ , _and I would rather not risk anything_ …'

They shook hands with a mutual smile before Marza sprayed Oscura with the Antidote and helped clear Chikorita of the string she was still covered in, waving good bye to the lad as the trio continued forward.

… Ah, and there was also a third instance – or, rather, a collection thereof – though it was really only worth a few minutes, cumutively. Just picking some Apricorns was all, so there's really not a whole lot to mention besides the fact that these happened.

Marza eventually spotted a tower in the distance after she, Oscura, and Chikorita climbed a few ledges. From what she could see of it with her slightly blurry perception (she repeatedly refused the offers that her parents gave her for glasses because of how weighed down the things made her nose and ears feel), it had a sort of foreign flare to it. To be specific: it reminded Marza distinctly of certain Middle-Eastern architectural designs, bringing to mind the tall pagodas of the region's feudal era. Its foreign, traditional design sharply contrasted the Western-esque building design that Marza had encountered thus far.

Now, readers, do understand that Marza has hardly had the opportunity to do some actual world-wide travel, so the chance to potentially encounter another culture entirely excited her to a decent degree. She accelerated her pace, curious as to whether or not she was truly entering a zone of the region dominated by a different life style.

She entered and exited the gate with no small amount of eagerness, and the sight that she was greeted with just about stole her breath from her lungs.

The massive tower that she saw from earlier looked that much more grand now that she was closer to it. The buildings featured the same style of the pagoda in the distance, and some of the people that she saw were wearing highly traditional robes befitting of the appearance of the city.

' _This is probably Violet City_ ,' she realized only _just_ then, a bit too distracted by the fascinating sight to come to the epiphany sooner.

Chikorita and Oscura appeared to be in a similar state because of the surprising novelty of the place, though they evidently got over the wonder a bit quicker than Marza did, with Oscura tugging at a pant leg, urging Marza, in turn, to focus. She did so after a few more seconds of gazing around, mumbling, "Right, Pokémon Center first, sight-seeing later."

Luckily, they didn't need to ask for directions, for the Center was right near the entrance. She entered it, eager to rest her feet and, depending on the time, explore a bit. The facility was virtually identical on the inside, yet possessed the traditional features of the city's style on the outside, as well as a _very_ familiar nurse behind the counter.

"Nurse Joy? What're you doing _here_ all of a sudden?" she inquired to the woman behind the counter, thoroughly bewildered.

The nurse grinned as she responded, "Trust me when I say that I get that question a lot. I'm guessing you met my sister at Cherrygrove, or some other place?"

"She's your sister, then?"

"One of many. Very, _very_ many. In my part of the family, we have… what, _fifteen_ identical sisters? Something like that? The trait of identical females in the family started a bunch of generations ago, I think. Anyways, my point is that your shouldn't be surprised to see girls that look almost exactly like me around the Centers. It's more or less a family tradition for to girls of our age and blood to be nurses!"

' _What are the odds of that happening_ , _assuming she isn_ ' _t over-exaggerating_?'

A quick glance at the clock after Oscura and Chikorita were healed up showed a time of around seven – a good hour or two was thusly open in her book for looking around... that is, after a session of resting up her feet.


	33. Chapter Thirty-One: To the Top

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

*cricket noises*

A bunch of shout-outs to shifterofthedark for the Follow, and to Provider of odd things for that as well as the Favorite!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Thirty-One: To the Top

* * *

"An old village surrounded by Johto tradition just as much as it is trees," the sign that Marza hadn't bothered to previously read showed at the entrance to the place.

'Old _Johto tradition_? _So is this what this region is like at its core_? _If so_ , _what caused the supposedly foreign style of the other towns to come in and potentially overtake it_? _Hrmmm_ …' she pondered among other trains of thought. The mini-map on the sign displayed a few of the notable landmarks relative to each other, such as Sprout Tower – the pagoda that she marveled at before entering Violet City – and, perhaps more important for her quest, the place's Gym.

After deciding upon letting her two companions know what she intended to do next, Marza and company walked the paved streets of the place, intent on doing a bit of exploration before challenging the Gym and on getting to know the place better.

"So, you two," she asked as the trio headed towards the bridge that connected the rest of the town to Sprout Tower, "what do you think of this place? I know I like it quite a bit already, and not just because of its novelty."

Oscura nodded her agreement, as did Chikorita.

"… Now that I think about it, I probably should've brought a notebook and something to write with. Phrases I can't understand are hardly things I want to work with. In fact, I should make a visit to the Poké Mart here, both for those and some other things we're likely going to be needing. Another place to check out while we're here, I suppose…"

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Sprout Tower_

They crossed the bridge and reached the entrance to the tower as she finished that statement, politely knocking on the door thrice before patiently waiting for the door to open. As she did so, she read the sign just to her right .

"Sprout Tower – A pagoda built around an ancient gargantuan Bellsprout where one can train both mind and skill."

' _Not sure what a Bellsprout is_ , _but it must have been_ exceptionally _massive to have had a structure this size made around it_ … _Wait_ , _wait_. _What does it mean by_ " _built around_?'

She was about to find out as the double doors opened, a middle-aged bald man in black robes allowing her through.

"Welcome to Sprout Tower, young one," he said, sagacity practically oozing out of his tone. His voice also had a slight accent that befitted the area that he likely lived in. "Am I to assume that you are here for the trial to assist in your preparation for the Violet City Gym challenge?"

"… I suppose. I was also here to look around, but now that you mention it, I suppose some training _would_ be in order."

"Very well. Your goal is to climb to the top of Sprout Tower and defeat our most competent Trainer, Elder Li, in a battle. The trial starts when you climb the ladder over there–" he gestured to the wooden ladders nearby, "and, luckily for you, the path is fairly linear. Do be aware that it's called a trial for a reason, young one – expect many a Trainer to confront you on your way to the top. You are hardly the only one undergoing training, after all.

"Oh, and a warning… That pillar you see in the center of this structure? It is the titanic Bellsprout of old, and it is both valuable to us and this structure's livelihoods. As such, if you cause _any sort of damage_ to the pillar you see creaking back and forth in the center of this place…"

A slightly frightening glare was sent her way.

"Understood, sir."

"That aside, I would invite you to come meditate whenever you would please. You may find that it will help you just as much – if not more – than any sort of usual battling would."

"I might take you up on your offer later. As it so turns out, it's starting to get late already, and my feet are complaining very loudly to stop using them so much," she explained only half-jokingly. The monk – for Marza assumed that that was what his occupation was – nodded in understanding, heading back to the north-eastern quadrant of the room and to the miniature crowd of people to resume his… well, _whatever it was he was doing_.

' _A seminar_? _Tour expo_? _Guide to being a monk in just_ twohundred _easy steps_? _None of my business regardless_.'

She climbed the ladder, Chikorita in one arm, with Oscura following closely behind, all three unaware of the pair of eyes watching them ascend…

Barely three seconds' worth of walking after she ascended to the next floor and another, slightly younger looking man than the other monk, clad in similar clothing, walked around a corner, startling her a bit.

"I will be the first of many opponents in your trial this evening! For our honor, Bellsprout!"

Out came a Pokémon that could best be described as a mobile fly-catching plant with a body composed of roots.

"Pokédex Number Sixty-Nine: Bellsprout, the Flower Pokémon. Typing: Grass-Poison. Ability: Chlorophyll. Bellsprout's thin and flexible body lets it bend and sway to avoid any attack, however strong it may be. From its mouth, this Pokémon spits a corrosive avid that melts even iron."

' _Better hope both of those are just exaggerations_ …'

Chikorita stepped up to the metaphorical batting plate, leaf swiftly swishing to and fro.

"Give our foe a Vine Whip, my friend!"

The other Grass-type extended a root, whipping Chikorita once or twice at range. The attacks barely appeared to faze her ( _Grass type moves must not be particularly effective against other Grass types_ …'), and she swiftly closed in for the knockout, succeeding in her efforts after just two Tackles. She barely looked winded, despite the Vine Whips she had received.

The monk withdrew his Bellsprout, sending out another.

' _Is this going to be another case of one person using multiples of the same Pokémon_?' thought Marza, unamused mused by the prospect. ' _It is_ , _isn_ ' _t it_.'

Repeat the previous process twice, as predicted.

Get profit in the form of victory and growing stronger.

The monk sighed in defeat. "Alas, the typing was not in my favor, and Vine Whip is the only Move Bellsprout knows at the moment. Regardless, you may progress."

Between this battle and the next inevitable one, Marza took to gazing at the pillar, noting its slow, rhythmitic motion.

' _That pillar was once the body of a giant Bellsprout_ , _then_? _What could have_ possibly _caused it to grow so big_?' Marza pondered on the seemingly impossible piece of lore, a bit bewildered. ' _And why make this pagoda around it_? _Why make this a place of more or less_ worship _for monks_? _So many thing to uncertainties_ … _Then again_ , _life is full of them to begin with_.' She internally shrugged, putting a trip to the local information center on her mental to-do list.

Now on the third floor, Marza and the two Pokémon were almost immediately confronted by another monk.

"This tower is a sacred place to us monks. You shall not pass this point!"

' _Kind of random_ , _considering I already knew that first point_. _Ah_ , _well_ , _time to go to work_ …!'

"You up for some more, Chikorita?"

An eager nod as she stepped forth.

"Well, go get 'em then!"

Marza felt some sense of déjà vu as another Bellsprout was sent out to combat Chikorita. The battle flowed quite similarly, aside from the fact that the third Bellsprout only took a singular Tackle to defeat rather than two.

"Your bonds… I can tell they have not been around for long, yet they are already building. Continue on."

' _Bonds of friendship_ , _he means_. _So cheesy_ , _but_ , _considering his occupation_ , _I guess I should_ ' _ve expected as much_.'

Some words of courtesy later, and progress was resumed.

The moment that Marza went out of sight, the monk glanced at a corner of the roof, saying, "I know you're there. If you were going to make an attempt at startling me, little ghost, your efforts are already in vain."

He didn't hear a response, yet let out a small "Hmph!" as he felt the sprit leave, following the other human down the stairs.

"You'd best be careful, lass, because you're being followed by something that's not nearly as friendly as it could be …"

Now once again on the first floor, Marza meandered on, intent on getting this whole ordeal over with as quickly as practically possible, but was halted in her tracks by an odd, laughter-like noise resonating around the entirety of the section of the room. Marza, Oscura, and Chikorita warily glanced around, not really seeing any apparent threats… that is, until she felt a sharp gust of wind flow through her hair from behind her. She whipped around, but all that was present were a few faint whisps of purple gas. Those were all the evidence left that _something_ had just attempted to sneak up on her.

"Hmmm," was all that the lass let out externally in response to this series of events. Internally, however?

' _Well_ that _gave me a spook_. _What even_ was _that_ , _some sort of ghost_? _Because there_ ' _s_ no way _someone can sneak up on me like that and vanish so quickly_. _Plus_ , _who would go through the trouble of setting up mics across the entire room or some such_ just _for this_?'

Marza always _did_ believe in the existence ghosts. And extraterrestrial beings. And alternative dimensions… And a bunch of other relatively strange topics. For all she knew, _all of those_ and _then some_ were being proven right in these very moments!

… Which was quite exciting, now that she thought about it, but she hardly wanted to be haunted by a spirit, if her assumption was correct.

' _Not exactly a lot that can be done about it_ , _and I can_ ' _t exactly afford to sit around all day waiting to get startled again_.'

She voiced this sentiment to her companions, and they nodded their approval, however wary they seemed.

Going up the stairs, she entered the other section of the second floor, beating out another monk that attempted to bar her path. This one only utilized two Bellsprout, yet were packing a bit more resilience than the others. At the end of the battle, Chikorita learned a new Move – Poison Powder, which the Pokédex described as a damage-over-time type of move. And speaking of Typing, it was Poison, and, as a result, it didn't work on other Poison-types or Steel-types, the latter of which Marza had yet to see a specimen of.

' _A fact that I should remember for later_. _Who knows_? _That wasted time and energy may prove to be a mistake that marks a defeat_ ,' she noted.

"Well done. You've another two of my ilk to face, and then our elder and more-or-less leader, Li. Continue on."

She did so, climbing up the ladder and reaching the third floor for the first time. One monk promptly fell, than another just three minutes later.

Marza was beginning to grow worried for Chikorita, who, despite her efforts to hide it, was clearly struggling to stay on her feet… well, not quite _feet_ , more like stubs, but that's beside the point.

"Come here, Chikorita. You're clearly exhausted – I doubt you'd be able to win another battle even against some Bellsprout in your current condition."

She let out a huff of arrogance, refusing to hop onto Marza's outstretched arms.

"Come on, Chikorita. You need to swallow your pride! What about when we saved you back in the forest? I didn't see you hesitate then!"

' _That was because I_ knew _I couldn_ ' _t continue then_ , _but I can now_!' she yelled, though it came out as nothing more than indiscernable cries to Marza.

"… Fine, fine, if you're so insistent about it, I'll let you fight Li. Don't blame me if you end up going down, though."

Chikorita just let out a huff as a response.

They opened the door on the left side of the leaning corpse, entering and finding a rather shocking sight – Marza's red-haired nemesis, gazing haughtily at the facility dressed, elderly man, who Marza assumed was Li. Silver had just withdrawn Totodile when the grizzled man began to speak:

"Hrmmm… You have attained victory over me, and your Pokémon has certainly grown stronger. Your ties of friendship, however… they grow ever-more strained. If you continue to push your Pokémon like this, I doubt you will grow to any notable level of strength–"

"Can it, you senile old man! I have better to do than listen to you prattle on about this "friendship is power" crap!" he exploded with indignation, approaching the door. His eyes widened slightly, having not even noticing her standing there until he finished his mini-rant.

"Oh, it's _you_. And with another one of those _pathetic_ Pokémon of Elm's, to boot. Came to steal something _else_ that belongs to me?"

"I would hardly call Chikorita pathetic, especially in comparison to the likes of you. And you know that I took your… _thing_ , then," she retorted, just barely avoiding spilling the beans and potentially looking like a fool in her arrogance.

"If by _thing_ you mean my _ID_ , then yes, you certainly did. Hand it over, or I will _make_ you."

"And if I don't think you deserve to have it back…?"

The two got into a competition to figure out who had the most venomous glare (along with Oscura – Chikorita was just looking shocked that this was even occurring in front of her), but this ended up interrupted by Li.

"Calm yourselves! This is not a place meant for petty arguing. I know not what makes you two dislike each other so, but settle this argument at a later point!"

The two resumed glaring at each other, continuing for a few moments before Marza reluctantly retrieved the card out of her pocket, half-heartedly tossing it over to Silver.

"Let's face it: we're going to go at it again sometime, and Oscura, Chikorita and I _are going to win_ ," she stated, voice willed with finality to the point where it appeared like she was stating fact rather than opinion.

"Empty words! That first victory was nothing more than a fluke! Totodile is already strong enough to pound _both_ of your Pokémon into the ground!"

"They aren't _my_ Pokémon! They aren't my _things_ to just raise up to be emotionless winning machines! They're _living beings_!"

But Silver wasn't listening by this point- he legitimately _pushed_ passed Marza, roughly slamming the door behind him.

"… Alas, that young man… he is nothing short of a fool if he believes he can go any sort of distance with that attitude," proclaimed Li, sighing regrettably. "You, however… you look to have some promise. What is your name?"

The girl stepped up to the plate, taking a moment to glare at his somewhat flashy attire before answering, "Marza, sir. I assume you're Li?"

"Indeed. If you are looking for a battle with me, I would advize that you give your Pokémon these–" he gave some pear-shaped, yellow fruits with dark spots over their surfaces to Marza, "and wait for a few minutes. Then, we shall do combat."

"Alright," she readily agreed, giving three of the offered berries to Chikorita and one to Oscura (the latter felt some chagrin at this, but remembered that she didn't even get into a single fight, _so_ …). Marza sat down and rested her feet as the other Pokémon rested up, as well.

The pair of eyes belonging to a certain ghost, meanwhile, continued to follow Marza, eager to see the confrontation unfold. Why, it could practically link its lips in anticipation…

In fact, it would.

 _Schliiick_ …

' _Heh heh heh_ …'


	34. Chapter Thirty-Two: End of a Trial

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

Methinks I'll be able to get one more chapter out before school starts up again. Then, an even slower pace of updates will occur. So, have some _more_ apologies in advance.

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Thirty-Two: End of a Trial

* * *

"… Are your allies all ready for combat?" asked Li some minutes after the end of the previous chapter, sounding both patient and ready, himself.

"I think so. You feeling better than before, Chikorita?"

An enthusiastic, if still incomprehensible cry.

"Right. So, you going to send out a Pokémon first, or me?"

"I shall keep up the pattern my juniors have created and send out mine first. Make as big of a dent in them as you can, Bellsprout!"

"Figures…" Marza mumbled, siccing Chikorita on the _nth_ Bellsprout of the past hour or so.

Cue music – _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal Version_ soundtrack – _Battle_! ( _Trainer_ )

"Power up with Growth before engaging your opponent, Bellsprout," Li commanded, voice as calm as before the battle had initiated. The Bellsprout glowed for a moment before appearing to increase in size, letting out a cry as it did so.

"Not a whole lot else to do but keep upon doing what you've been doing, Chikorita!"

The Leaf Pokémon promptly ran forward, getting hit with a Vine Whip en route to her foe. She was unpleasantly surprised to find that it actually _hurt_ , unlike all of the previous Bellsprout encounters. Speaking of, the Flower Pokémon took a pair of back-to-back Tackles before retaliating with another Vine Whip. The third Tackle put this one out of commission, and Li sent out a second Bellsprout.

Instead of opting for the same strategy as before, Li made Bellsprout immediately go to Vine Whipping. The pure Grass-type flinched each time the whip connected with her skin, but shrugged the pain off for the sake of victory, closing in with the predictable Tackle. Despite the Pokédex entry, it was hardly swift or even flexible enough to dodge, going down after another two Tackle-Vine Whip trades.

"Chikorita has proven its worth so far, yes… but can it stand up to being at a Type disadvantage? Finish this one off, Hoothoot!"

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Sixty-Three: Hoothoot, the Owl Pokémon. Typing: Normal-Flying. Ability: Insomnia. It has a perfect sense of time and always stands on one foot. The change between the standing limbs happens so swift and sneakily to the point where it's nigh-unnoticeable."

"Peck our foe, Hoothoot!"

The circular Pokémon closed the gap between them with a quick hop, mercilessly attacking Chikorita. She was only able to get off a singular Tackle before she was left incapable of even standing, lying on the ground, defeated.

"Alright, Chikorita, you're done. You took us quite far – rest assured that you did an excellent job."

She still let out a huff of exhausted frustration as Marza stepped on and carried her out of the battle. Marza wasn't _too_ concerned about being close to an enemy's Pokémon – after all, the Hoothoot was hardly some brute that attacked anything near it.

… At least, that's what she _hoped_. She didn't really know the Owl Pokémon personally, so for all she knew, Li could be holding back its viscous tendencies. Regardless, she knew what she had to do next.

"Looks like it's finally your turn, Oscura."

Oscura had absolutely zero qualms with this command, eagerly stepping forward for combat.

"See how much a Peck will do, my friend!"

This didn't really amount to much, and Oscura, in turn, gave her opponent a Bite once she got a hold of it.

"This is not the best of scenarios to be in… Try putting that Larvitar to sleep with Hypnosis!" exclaimed Li, still tranquil despite the disadvantage.

The Hoothoot's crimson eyes glowed before they stared into Oscura's own, and, next thing either Marza or Oscura knew, the latter flopped over, asleep.

"What the – Oscura! Now is decidedly _not_ the time to be falling asleep on the job, however involuntary it may be!"

Of course, the Rock Skin Pokémon didn't hear the lass' words, being _asleep_ and all. Not knowing if physically getting involved in a battle was allowed, she restrained herself, becoming just as aggravated as she was getting concerned over this circumstance. Oscura thankfully waked quickly once she attacked, and, as the Owl Pokémon was too slow to retreat, bit down hard on her foe once she realized what just happened.

"Hypnosis again, Hoothoot! Don't let yourself be attacked if you can help it!"

' _Rinse and repeat_ …' she exhaled in her mind with some difficultly checked frustration.

Just as predicted, a Peck later, Oscura woke and traded that damage with a third Bite. Both looked tired to some degree, though the bird-like Pokémon appeared just a touch more so.

Li, noticing this and wanting to capitalize, near-shouted, "Your opponent is weakened, Hoothoot! Go all-out!"

With no other practical options available, Marza dictated that Oscura do the same. "You're bulkier that Hoothoot! Take advantage of the fact that you to can take more hits that it can! Stand your ground and advance when you need to get close!"

Oscura heeded her tactics, taking the attacks that came to her. The fact that she could actually brace for the pain, unlike when she was asleep, assisted her quite well in weathering the damage that she took. One Bite connected before Hoothoot felt it prudent for its survival to retreat. Oscura didn't give it the chance to perform another Hypnosis, closing the distance with all due swiftness, grabbing it, and giving it one last Bite.

Li sighed as Hoothoot was withdrawn, patting the Poké Ball containing it as he said to Marza, "You and your partners have succeeded in the trial. Well done on your efforts."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, your prize for this feat – besides tightened bonds and greater power, that is – comes in the from of this: a Technical Machine for the Move Flash."

From a pocket nor some such beneath his robes, he pulled out a we stark white disc not too dissimilar to discs that are put into most computer models.

"And this does… what, precisely?"

Li's brows furrowed in a curious manner, as if he were (justifiably) bewildered, but he quickly regained his stoic expression. "Well, all you have to do is put the disc to a Pokémon's head – or, to be more accounting of certain Pokémon, a point close to its brain – and it will learn the Move on the disc near-instantly. I do not understand the technicalities myself – you will have to ask a professional of someone like that for such information."

' _Sounds like magic to me_. _Then again_ , _with all the stuff I_ ' _ve been seeing as of late_ , _something like this_ really _shouldn_ ' _t surprise me_ …'

Li continued, "What I _can_ tell you, however, is the fact that it's not exactly a Move that every Pokémon can learn. Off of the top of my head, I remember only Hoothoot, some Electric-types, and, of course, this tower's Bellsprout being capable of learning Flash."

"Understood. So, is there any other wisdom that you want to impart on me, or are we done here?"

Li harumphed before answering, "As it so turns out, no, I don't. You may leave now."

Marza felt a touch of distress at his tone and huff, and, to soothe her own conscience as well as Li's, apologized. "Ah… Sorry if I seemed rude, there. Watching my tone is one of my weak spots…"

Li scanned her for a second or two, probably attempting to find a would-be bluff. Not finding one, he said, "Apology accepted. Now, go. I believe you have some potential as a Trainer, and time spent here at this point is time wasted in your journey to the top."

' _Or_ , _in this case_ , sleeping,' she amended his word son the inside. Hoisting Chikorita up, the three exited the room, getting a bit weirded out when the monks that she passed bowed to her. She resisted the temptation to ask them not to, realizing before evening opening her mouth that it would be pointless – they had A) already bowed before Marza had the chance to ask, and B) it would get on Marza's nerves to ask the same question more than half a dozen times.

She exited Sprout Tower, reward in pocket and injured Pokémon in hand, noting how the crowd some time back had now left. The lady at the entrance was also gone, oddly enough.

' _Was she just a tour guide dressed to match this place_ ' _s standards_ , _then_? _Another question for later_ , _methinks_ – _that is_ , _assuming I even see her again_...'

She moved on, thoughts not disturbing her pace in the slightest. She headed to the Pokémon Center, making true on her decision to go to sleep as early as possible...that is, after Nurse Joy healed up Oscura and Chikorita.

* * *

"Did you challenge the Gym, or Sprout Tower's trial?" the nurse promptly inquired when Marza and company entered the building, not looking too annoyed in spite of the somewhat late hour of the trio's re-arrival.

"The second. Would you mind doing your thing on these two?"

"Well, it's less _my_ thing and more the machine's, but alright."

As they waited for their first patient (Chikorita, for those who were wondering), the Joy fairly member attempted to start a conversation. "… So, how did it go? Judging by how the Larvitar is still conscious, I assume your attempt was a success?"

"Uh-huh," answered Marza, not particularly caring for the conversation at the moment. Nurse Joy noticed this not-so-enthusiastic response, and thusly chose to let the time pass by in quaint silence, much to Marza's appreciation.

A speedy four minutes later, and Marza collapsed onto the plush bed on the second-floor room, her two non-human companions following suite. She didn't even bother changing to her pyjamas, and closed her eyes, fully prepared to head off for Dreamland. Before this, however, she remembered something that she should've been done with by this point: coming up with a name for Chikorita.

' _Well_ , _procrastination usually isn_ ' _t something I_ ' _m a fan of_ , _but I need my rest_ …' Marza concluded drowsily.

She slipped under the covers and fell asleep fairly quickly. Chikorita had done the same before Marza went to sleep. Osura, on the other hand? She was feeling inexplicably wary. She could _feel_ something watching them, but she just couldn't put her would-be finger on it.

Eyes narrowed, she clambered onto the window sill, peeking out and cautiously looking out for some movement near her. After some minutes of this, she found nothing of suspicion, awkwardly closing the window panes for security's sake (with a bit of struggling – her stubby little hands, if they could even be called that, could only do so much) and reluctantly plopping down near the side of Marza's legs that wasn't occupied by Chikorita. She went to sleep almost as quickly as her two companions did.

Little were any of them aware of not one, but _two_ key events happening just after this: the pair of comically large eyes that resumed gazing at the three from the window, and the shaking of the egg within the container. The entity in possession of these eyes took notice of this the moment it began to happen, and quickly got to plotting a rather devious plan of action…


	35. Chapter Thirty-Three: A Kidnapping

_Author_ ' _s Note_ :

 _Ehhh_. So much for getting this out before school started… At least I got this out to begin with, though. That's at least _some_ consolation, yes?

 _Yeah_ … Expect updates to be considerably slower in rate due to a mixture of school and part-time-jobing. Rest assured, however, that this story _will_ go on. I've had enough stories put on hiatus as is…

A quick shout-out to chi4angoo and JokersBatman for the Follows! Thanks!

Disclaimer:

 _Pokémon_ and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.

* * *

 _Of Children_ , _Men_ , _and Monsters_

Chapter Thirty-Three: A Kidnapping

* * *

Marza awoke both groggily and much earlier than she would like, wiping away at her eyes before looking down at whatever was tugging at her pajama leggings. Turns out it was Oscura, and not, say, Chukorita. An angling of the neck revealed her to still be asleep, albeit in a slightly different position than some hours previous. When the Rock Skin Pokémon saw Marza look at her, she frantically pointed at a spot on the carpet near the door.

"Wha'…? What's wrong with the carpet…? _Ehhh_ …"

She let her arms, which were struggling to hold her up a moment ago, flop lazily to tier side of the bed, eyes closing swiftly when she noted that it was only _five in the morning_.

Before she could go back to sleep, Oscura tugged at her leggings, actually managing to toss the considerably larger human out of the bed. _This_ got Marza wide-awake, and she scrambled upright, tugging her leggings back to their proper position once she regained her bearings.

"Alright, alright, I'm awake! What's the issue here!?"

Oscura again drew Marza's attention to a certain section of the floor, pointing to it, then back at her. She repeated this emphatically in an attempt to ensure that her message got across.

"Wait a minute… Didn't I put my stuff there last night…?"

Her mind, still slightly groggy, came to the realization rather slowly compared to her usual mental speed.

"Oh. _Oh_. _My stuff was taken_. Is that what you're trying to tell me, Oscura?"

A quick series of nods, as well as a point to the opened window.

"And whoever did this went in and out through the window?"

A nod for the _nth_ time. Marza glanced through the window and bent over a bit to look at the wall of the Center. The stylized wood had a rough surface, but only vertically – it provided little to no aide-to-side ledges to grab onto to climb upward.

' _So whoever did this was either a Pokémon capable of ascending without the needing for the leverage of a wall_ , _or a human with access to certain tools_. This _is why I need to remember to close and lock the windows every night instead of leaving them open_ … _Oh_ , _and_ –'

" _The egg is gone too_ ," she said lowly, equal parts panic and anger in her tone. Her mind made up, she said to her only companion that was awake, "Alright, then. We'd better wake Chikorita up and go as soon as that's done with – don't want anyone thinking me as some sort of weirdo going out this early in the morning, with my _pajamas_ on no less."

The lass then proceeded to poke Chikorita, telling her sleeping form to get up. When this failed, she shook her gently. Then roughly. Then _threw her off the bed_ , is what she would have done next were her patience at that moment even shorter than it was.

"Guess I'll just carry you," she mumbled, taking the Leaf Pokémon in both arms, awkwardly opening the door with one and exiting along with Oscura.

"Now, where do we start our search…? As far as I could tell from the window, there wasn't exactly a trail to follow… Guess we'll just have to pick a direction and go a ways out. May as well start from the direction the window faces – I don't see any direction more likely as to where the culprit went than that one…"

And so another quest within a quest began.

Cue music - _Pokémon Gold_ / _Silver_ / _Crystal_ soundtrack - _Ruins of Alph_

Precisely twelve minutes and thirteen seconds passed before Marza, Oscura, and a _still sleeping_ Chikorita encountered their first of (thankfully _only_ ) two difficulties: a group of unfamiliar Pokémon that had created a large and complex webbing system. This, as well as their appearances, heavily reminded Marza of greater arachnid species back home. A few of the specimens were wide awake, wearily watching the lass and her companions while hanging upside-down from various tree branches. The frowning, face-like patterns on their abdomens unnerved Marza to some degree, causing her to pull out her handy-dandy 'Dex quite a bit slower than usual.

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Sixty-Seven: Spinarak, the String Spit Pokémon. Typing: Bug/Poison. Ability: Swarm or Insomnia. If prey becomes ensnared in its webs, it patiently waits for it to tire, identifying it with its durable, vibration-sensitive string during these time frames. It will then injects its prey with highly potent venom before consuming it."

" _Yeah_ … Better just find a way around them… Well, scratch the "find" part, just need to go some feet to the left or right."

Thusly is how they demonstrated that particular danger was avoided, glares from the Spinarak aside.

The second obstacle surprised our two conscious protagonists more than the first, though not necessarily for the reasons one might expect.

The trail of spotted egg shells is what got the two's attention first. The high-pitched, mildly irritating whining is what got Marza and Oscura's attention second. Despite their mutual waves of worry, they carefully and methodically paced through the shrubbery and trees to the general direction of the crying, breaking into a run as soon as they entered a relatively tame section of the woods.

This is why they were so surprised: because they managed to find both the egg (or, rather, the Pokémon that it had hatched into) _and_ the culprit after looking A) looking for about half an hour, and, with an even greater amount of luck, B) in the first direction they went.

The very literal _kid_ napper looked like a particularly unimaginative child's portrayal of a ghost; round, with comically large eyes sporting tiny pupils, and with a seemingly solid black center and a gaseous outer rim. It was floating low to the ground, looking at the other, smaller Pokémon, some concern surprisingly evident in its eyes. Her bag and the belongings therein was laying on the ground, laid awkwardly at its aide.

' _Looks like the purple stuff that the thing that was following left behind in Sprout Tower_ … _Hope I don_ ' _t have a stalker of sorts on my hands_.'

"Alright, just _what_ are you doing to that Pokémon? Besides kidnapping them, I mean," Marza spoke up, startling the gaseous Pokémon and drawing its attention from the other Pokémon on the ground. The tears in the corners of its eyes, as well as its indignant expression, aroused even more concern in Marza and Oscura.

' _So_ that's _what it hatched into_ … _Its cuteness is all the more reason to get it back_!' she said in her mind, quickly connecting the dots between the similar appearance of the egg's shell and the Pokémon's exterior. Heck, it even looked like the egg was still attached to it, bottom and top aside.

The floating Pokémon appeared to panic, eyes quickly darting to Marza and the two Pokémon near/on her and the freshly hatched Pokémon. After several repeats of this, it resigned itself to a confrontation, floating over with a grin even wider than its actual body.

It looked quite forced in Marza's eyes.

"You want a fight…? Fine! Give this kidnapper what it deserves, Oscura!"

She stepped up with some degree of eagerness, raring to go. The ghostly Pokémon speeded to Oscura and gave her a cheeky lick with a tongue that could easily be labelled "immense", instinctually making the Rock Skin Pokémon freeze up and shiver violently. She let out a distressed moan of a cry, reminding the only human present of a drawn-out " _Whyyy_ …"

The spherical Pokémon chuckled in glee at this, but was rudely interrupted when Oscura got over her disgust of this action, giving her foe a vicious Bite in payback for the Lick. It appeared to be severely drained of energy just from that one attack, signaling to Marza that there was, in fact, either a Type advantage or a stark difference in strength.

"Just another Bite'll end this, Oscura! Finish 'em!"

She closed in for the finisher, hardly needing to be told twice. Her foe flinched before instinctually pulling out a gargantuan needle from seemingly nowhere, pointing it at itself in an inexplicably threatening manner.

" _Woah_ , there! Wait a second! Let's not get hasty with self-inflicted pain…!"

The needle was raised, poised to strike the ghostly Pokémon…

Until the newly hatched Pokémon came into play, stepping between the two parties with some surprising poise and calm, stubby little arms straight at its sides. Turning to the ghostly Pokémon, it repeated the syllables of its name, the apparent words getting it to glance away in what may have been shame and making the needle disappear just as quickly as it showed up. It then whirled around to face Oscura, speaking in a soft tone and managing to quell her tension, as well.

The tyke turned one heel-equivalent to the human. Before it could even begin, Marza stated, "Yeah, I'll stop this violence. All I want is my stuff back and an explanation as to just _what specifically is going on_."

The smallest Pokémon present nodded, starting with a deep breath before launching on a supposed tirade, saying its name over and over in swift succession, gesturing wildly all the while. Marza realized with all due speed that this was a fruitless request quickly, and next said, "Okay, _never mind_ , I can't understand a _word_ of what you're saying."

A sigh.

"How's about we just… go back to Violet and have Oscura try and translate? And don't you _dare_ try to get away from us, you, ah… _ghost_. _Thing_. You know what, I'm just gonna go to the 'Dex for this…"

Upon flipping it open and tilting it in the gaseous Pokémon's direction, it displayed for her:

"Pokédex Number Ninety-Two: Gastly, the Gas Pokémon. Typing: Ghost/Poison. Ability: Levitate. Its body is mostly composed of gases. Despite its small size it can envelop a foe with its poisonous gases, causing suffocation and potential poisoning."

"Pokédex Number One Hundred Seventy-Five: Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokémon. Typing: Fairy. Ability: Serene Grace. It is considered to be a symbol of good luck. Some say the its shell is filled with feelings of joy, and that it shares this happiness with those close to it."

' _May as well be opposites on the good_ / _evil scale_ ,' is what Marza said in her mind once she read this information.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, we'll just–"

Looking up from her reading, she found that the Gastly was out of her sights. A sweep around revealed that it was nowhere to be found.

"Fleeing just a few moments after it knew its little stunt was over… what a _wuss_. Then again, I gave it plenty of time to flee with that poorly timed 'Dex reading…" Marza remarked, frustrated. A sigh left her next. "Nothing to do about that Gastly now… Better get back to the Center."

Marza reached to pick up the grounded Chikorita, being interrupted with huff from the newly born. It had its stubby limbs at its sides, like a human whose arms were at their hips in a sassy manner.

Now, understand that Marza is not one to take into account a person's age, race, gender, background, or even _age_ when making her disdain known. There's also the fact that, despite probably only being a few hours old at most, Togepi was quite intelligent. With this in mind, she decided to let an insult (and miscellaneous tangent) slip: "No need to get sassy just because I'm not immediately giving you some attention, _little noble_. Then again, it's not nearly as bad as me some years ago, and that's what most children are like…" The youngest present looked insulted at first, then confused. "Never mind, that's getting off-track. _Anyways_ , my name is Marza, this is Oscura, and we came here to rescue _you_ from that Gastly. Or, rather, _were_ , because it ran away and stuff."

The Spike Ball Pokémon just looked continued to look up for a moment before appearing unimpressed, sighing with a touch of haughtiness before allowing itself to be scooped up in the human's free arm. Marza couldn't help but snuggle the Togepi a bit (much to the tiny Pokémon's chagrin) as she beckoned her oldest companion to follow her home.

And so the quest within the quest ended.


End file.
